Simon Quick Advisors LLC Has $546,000 Stock Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Simon Quick Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 25.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,433 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,148 shares during the quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $546,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MO. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 420.0% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 572 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 462 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Altria Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $34,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $41,000. Fairman Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 85.1% in the 3rd quarter. Fairman Group LLC now owns 892 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 410 shares in the last quarter. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Altria Group by 330.4% during the fourth quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 977 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 750 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Altria Group in a report on Thursday, January 16th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $54.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup increased their price target 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. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.43.

Altria Group Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of MO stock opened at $50.82 on Thursday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.25 and a 12-month high of $58.03. The company has a market capitalization of $86.14 billion, a PE ratio of 8.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.64. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $54.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $52.11.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.33 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 233.80% and a net margin of 42.82%. The firm’s quarterly revenue 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, research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.13 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were paid a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 26th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.92%.

Altria Group Company 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.