Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC Acquires 2,485 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC lifted its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 21.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,090 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,485 shares during the quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $702,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 39.8% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 38,958 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,988,000 after buying an additional 11,101 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK raised its stake in Altria Group by 2.6% in the third quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK now owns 16,948 shares of the company’s stock valued at $865,000 after purchasing an additional 431 shares in the last quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. raised its stake in Altria Group by 1.3% in the third quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. now owns 54,835 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,855,000 after purchasing an additional 711 shares in the last quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC raised its stake in Altria Group by 9.6% in the third quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 11,421 shares of the company’s stock valued at $583,000 after purchasing an additional 999 shares in the last quarter. Finally, W Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Altria Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $203,000. 57.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.17.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of Altria Group stock opened at $53.88 on Tuesday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $39.25 and a 52-week high of $54.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $91.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.10, a P/E/G ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.64. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $51.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $48.57.

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

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $1.02 dividend. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.57%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.