Kavar Capital Partners Group LLC Buys 250 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Kavar Capital Partners Group LLC boosted its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 0.8% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 31,935 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 250 shares during the period. Kavar Capital Partners Group LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,630,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MO. BNP Paribas bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the first quarter worth about $27,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the second quarter worth about $27,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the second quarter worth about $30,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 63.9% in the second quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 667 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lynx Investment Advisory bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the second quarter worth about $44,000. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on MO. StockNews.com downgraded Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $48.20.

Altria Group Stock Down 0.5 %

NYSE:MO opened at $49.71 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $51.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $48.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.65. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.06 and a 12-month high of $54.95.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $6.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.39 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.25% and a negative return on equity of 232.55%. Altria Group’s quarterly revenue was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.31 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.21%. This is a positive change from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 85.36%.

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.