Hollencrest Capital Management Has $3.95 Million Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Hollencrest Capital Management increased its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 77,435 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 840 shares during the quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $3,952,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. CWM LLC raised its holdings in Altria Group by 15.3% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 305,704 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,603,000 after purchasing an additional 40,574 shares during the period. Regal Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Altria Group by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 251,933 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,476,000 after buying an additional 10,079 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 2.3% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 1,456,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,330,000 after acquiring an additional 32,318 shares in the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Altria Group by 7.2% in the first quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,953 shares of the company’s stock valued at $260,000 after acquiring an additional 399 shares during the period. Finally, White Lighthouse Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the third quarter worth about $483,000. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on MO. Citigroup lifted their price target on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Altria Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.33.

Altria Group Trading Up 0.8 %

MO stock traded up $0.45 during trading on Friday, reaching $53.99. 1,341,675 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,817,100. Altria Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $39.25 and a twelve month high of $55.05. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $51.49 and its 200 day moving average is $48.70. The firm has a market cap of $91.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.64.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.33 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 233.80% and a net margin of 42.82%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.28 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.56%. 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 payout ratio is currently 68.92%.

Altria Group 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.