Brighton Jones LLC Buys 18,279 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 103.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 35,981 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 18,279 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $2,160,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its position in Altria Group by 30.6% in the 1st quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 924,704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,501,000 after buying an additional 216,616 shares during the last quarter. Pinion Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 116.5% during the 1st quarter. Pinion Investment Advisors LLC now owns 38,620 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,318,000 after acquiring an additional 20,781 shares in the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 30.8% in the first quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 5,107 shares of the company’s stock valued at $307,000 after purchasing an additional 1,203 shares during the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 5.2% in the first quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 165,110 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,910,000 after purchasing an additional 8,096 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Affinity Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 20.9% during the first quarter. Affinity Capital Advisors LLC now owns 7,713 shares of the company’s stock worth $437,000 after purchasing an additional 1,331 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on MO. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Altria Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $60.00 price target on Altria Group in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Barclays boosted their price target on Altria Group from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Altria Group from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $56.00.

Altria Group Trading Down 0.3%

MO stock opened at $59.74 on Monday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $43.92 and a 1-year high of $61.26. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $58.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.64 billion, a PE ratio of 9.12, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.60.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $4.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.64 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 46.90% and a negative return on equity of 258.72%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.15 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.83%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 68.34%.

Altria Group Company Profile

Altria Group, Inc, through its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells smokeable and oral tobacco products in the United States. The company offers cigarettes primarily under the Marlboro brand; large cigars and pipe tobacco under the Black & Mild brand; moist smokeless tobacco and snus products under the Copenhagen, Skoal, Red Seal, and Husky brands; oral nicotine pouches under the on! brand; and e-vapor products under the NJOY ACE brand.