3Chopt Investment Partners LLC Purchases New Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

3Chopt Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 27,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,260,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MO. Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 404,894 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,248,000 after acquiring an additional 6,324 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Altria Group by 5.2% during the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 18,647 shares of the company’s stock valued at $974,000 after purchasing an additional 929 shares in the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P acquired a new position in Altria Group during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in Altria Group by 3.4% during the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,711,773 shares of the company’s stock worth $141,690,000 after purchasing an additional 89,334 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Western Trust Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the 1st quarter valued at $498,000. 58.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Altria Group in a report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Altria Group from $56.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.50.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MO traded down $0.06 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $44.81. 826,574 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,656,440. The company has a market cap of $79.52 billion, a PE ratio of 11.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.59. Altria Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $40.35 and a twelve month high of $51.57. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $44.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $45.09.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 1st. The company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.31. The firm had revenue of $5.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.43 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 225.61% and a net margin of 27.40%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.26 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.75%. This is a positive change from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 14th. Altria Group’s payout ratio is presently 102.89%.

About Altria Group

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