HBK Sorce Advisory LLC Acquires 1,620 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

HBK Sorce Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 6.5% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 26,639 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,620 shares during the period. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,599,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Redwood Park Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Altria Group during the first quarter worth about $31,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Altria Group during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Promus Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Altria Group during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Pinney & Scofield Inc. bought a new position in Altria Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Barclays upped their target price on Altria Group from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Wall Street Zen lowered Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Altria Group from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $60.00 price objective on Altria Group in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $56.00.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of Altria Group stock opened at $59.01 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $59.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $56.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $99.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.88, a P/E/G ratio of 3.51 and a beta of 0.60. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $45.17 and a fifty-two week high of $61.26.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $4.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.64 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 295.44% and a net margin of 43.09%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.15 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 68.34%.

Altria Group 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.