Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Shares Bought by Platform Technology Partners

Platform Technology Partners raised its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 23.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 5,733 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,102 shares during the quarter. Platform Technology Partners’ holdings in Altria Group were worth $262,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MO. Pacific Sun Financial Corp acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group during the 2nd quarter worth $201,000. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 86.6% during the 2nd quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 40,334 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,827,000 after buying an additional 18,718 shares during the last quarter. Keystone Financial Planning Inc. raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Keystone Financial Planning Inc. now owns 115,274 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,222,000 after buying an additional 1,817 shares during the last quarter. Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter. Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc. now owns 20,980 shares of the company’s stock worth $950,000 after buying an additional 881 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 3.9% during the 2nd quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 632,833 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,667,000 after buying an additional 23,524 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.94% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on MO. StockNews.com began coverage on Altria Group in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Altria Group from $56.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $47.50.

Altria Group Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of Altria Group stock traded down $0.08 on Monday, hitting $43.45. 2,777,254 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,805,655. The stock has a market cap of $77.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.43, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.59. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $44.38 and its 200 day moving average is $45.04. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $40.35 and a 52-week high of $51.57.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 1st. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.31. The business 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 was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.26 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 15th will be given a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 14th. This is a positive change from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.02%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 102.89%.

Altria Group Profile

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.