Flagship Wealth Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Flagship Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $58,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MO. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Altria Group by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 73,481,686 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,821,831,000 after acquiring an additional 3,910,738 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Altria Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $137,536,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Altria Group by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 59,805,286 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,127,218,000 after acquiring an additional 2,296,972 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Altria Group by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,803,759 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,079,919,000 after acquiring an additional 1,003,605 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Altria Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $32,206,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MO. Bank of America upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.29.

Altria Group Price Performance

MO stock opened at $58.87 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $53.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $53.35. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $40.65 and a 12 month high of $59.67. The company has a market cap of $99.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.56.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.01. Altria Group had a net margin of 46.90% and a negative return on equity of 258.72%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 25th will be given a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 25th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.93%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.29%.

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.