Brighton Jones LLC Has $549,000 Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Brighton Jones LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 43.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 10,748 shares of the company’s stock after selling 8,106 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $549,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MO. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 600 shares during the period. Detalus Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Altria Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $222,000. Litman Gregory Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Altria Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $220,000. Greenleaf Trust raised its holdings in Altria Group by 6.8% in the third quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 38,192 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,949,000 after purchasing an additional 2,440 shares during the period. Finally, Plan Group Financial LLC raised its holdings in Altria Group by 8.6% in the third quarter. Plan Group Financial LLC now owns 21,223 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,083,000 after purchasing an additional 1,680 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Stock Performance

NYSE:MO opened at $49.72 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $51.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $47.97. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $39.06 and a 52-week high of $54.95. The company has a market cap of $84.83 billion, a PE ratio of 8.64, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.65.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $6.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.39 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 232.55% and a net margin of 42.25%. Altria Group’s revenue was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.31 earnings per share. On average, 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend 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 currently 70.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Citigroup upped their price objective 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. UBS Group raised their price target on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. StockNews.com lowered Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, 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 report on Thursday, August 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $48.20.

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.