Tarbox Family Office Inc. Increases Stock Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Tarbox Family Office Inc. raised its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,020 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 265 shares during the quarter. Tarbox Family Office Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $256,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in Altria Group by 120.6% in the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,762,047 shares of the company’s stock worth $382,201,000 after buying an additional 4,789,788 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Altria Group by 3,786.6% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,743,443 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,985,000 after buying an additional 1,698,585 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Altria Group by 25.0% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company’s stock worth $295,055,000 after buying an additional 1,299,703 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in Altria Group by 415.4% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 984,285 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,935,000 after buying an additional 793,327 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP purchased a new position in Altria Group in the 1st quarter worth about $27,613,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:MO opened at $49.72 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $51.42 and a 200 day moving average of $48.02. The company has a market cap of $84.83 billion, a PE ratio of 8.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.65. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.06 and a 12-month high of $54.95.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $6.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.39 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.25% and a negative return on equity of 232.55%. The company’s revenue was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.31 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.21%. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 70.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Bank of America decreased their target price on Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $48.20.

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.