Forthright Family Wealth Advisory LLC Buys New Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Forthright Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 5,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Altria Group by 0.3% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,609,568 shares of the company’s stock worth $698,432,000 after purchasing an additional 42,490 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in Altria Group by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 13,279,658 shares of the company’s stock worth $535,701,000 after purchasing an additional 242,442 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Altria Group by 17.0% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 9,259,451 shares of the company’s stock worth $373,526,000 after purchasing an additional 1,343,094 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Altria Group by 8.5% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 9,174,355 shares of the company’s stock worth $381,278,000 after purchasing an additional 722,258 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Truist Financial Corp raised its holdings in Altria Group by 7.6% in the third quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 4,762,934 shares of the company’s stock worth $200,281,000 after purchasing an additional 337,548 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of Altria Group stock traded down $0.44 during trading on Friday, hitting $44.32. 10,651,618 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,216,503. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $39.06 and a 1 year high of $47.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $76.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.27, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.64. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $44.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.48.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.15. The company had revenue of $4.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.71 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 222.80% and a net margin of 34.81%. Altria Group’s revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.18 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.84%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 82.01%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Altria Group news, VP Charles N. Whitaker sold 22,487 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.95, for a total value of $988,303.65. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 173,485 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,624,665.75. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MO has been the subject of a number of research reports. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a report on Monday, March 25th. StockNews.com raised Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Argus raised Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Altria Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.90.

About Altria Group

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.