Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC NC Grows Stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC NC grew its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 26.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,018 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,043 shares during the period. Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC NC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $262,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MO. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 41,938,507 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,193,687,000 after acquiring an additional 1,134,748 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 22,273,491 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,164,681,000 after acquiring an additional 76,004 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 9.6% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,432,535 shares of the company’s stock worth $859,257,000 after acquiring an additional 1,444,021 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,801,958 shares of the company’s stock worth $617,124,000 after acquiring an additional 983,328 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on MO shares. Morgan Stanley dropped 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 report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned 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 $56.00.

Altria Group Stock Down 1.6%

Altria Group stock opened at $59.46 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $100.16 billion, a PE ratio of 9.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.60. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $58.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $55.29. Altria Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $43.83 and a twelve month high of $61.26.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $4.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.64 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 46.90% and a negative return on equity of 258.72%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.15 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 25th were paid a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 25th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.34%.

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.