Patriot Investment Management Group Inc. Buys 338 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Patriot Investment Management Group Inc. lifted its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 11,576 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 338 shares during the period. Patriot Investment Management Group Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $605,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 420.0% during the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 572 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 462 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Altria Group during the 3rd quarter valued at about $34,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $41,000. Fairman Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 85.1% in the 3rd quarter. Fairman Group LLC now owns 892 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 410 shares during the period. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 330.4% during the fourth quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 977 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 750 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on MO. StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays boosted their target price on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Altria Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.43.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $51.17 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $86.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.64. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.25 and a 52 week high of $58.03. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $54.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $52.10.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.33 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 233.80% and a net margin of 42.82%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.28 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.13 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th were given a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 26th. Altria Group’s payout ratio is currently 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.