Archford Capital Strategies LLC Takes $4.70 Million Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Archford Capital Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 78,301 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,700,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in Altria Group by 64.7% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 17,702 shares of the company’s stock valued at $926,000 after acquiring an additional 6,954 shares in the last quarter. TCW Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 36,460 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,906,000 after purchasing an additional 442 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 32,727 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,711,000 after purchasing an additional 2,823 shares during the last quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 20,972 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,097,000 after purchasing an additional 1,565 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Horizon Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $381,000. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their price target on Altria Group from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Altria Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Altria Group from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays boosted their target price on Altria Group from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $60.00 target price on Altria Group in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $56.00.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $59.96 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $59.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $56.22. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $45.17 and a one year high of $61.26. The firm has a market cap of $101.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.04, a P/E/G ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 0.61.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.04. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 295.44% and a net margin of 43.09%. The firm had revenue of $4.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.15 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.80%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 68.34%.

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.