Breakwater Capital Group Takes $425,000 Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Breakwater Capital Group purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 7,078 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $425,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Csenge Advisory Group raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 29.1% during the fourth quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 54,684 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,859,000 after acquiring an additional 12,320 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 27.6% during the 4th quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 2,418,074 shares of the company’s stock worth $126,441,000 after buying an additional 523,146 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 3,414,856 shares of the company’s stock worth $178,563,000 after buying an additional 39,341 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 40.2% during the 4th quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 70,826 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,703,000 after buying an additional 20,309 shares during the period. Finally, First Merchants Corp boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 56.1% in the 4th quarter. First Merchants Corp now owns 27,983 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,463,000 after purchasing an additional 10,058 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Needham & Company LLC upgraded shares of Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Altria Group from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Two investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.00.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $59.36 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $99.98 billion, a PE ratio of 9.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.60. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $43.83 and a 12-month high of $61.26. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $58.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $55.99.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.04. Altria Group had a net margin of 46.90% and a negative return on equity of 258.72%. The firm had revenue of $4.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.64 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.15 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current 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 issued a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.87%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.