D Orazio & Associates Inc. Raises Stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

D Orazio & Associates Inc. increased its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 6.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 15,274 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 870 shares during the period. D Orazio & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $799,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 19.0% during the 4th quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 158,111 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,268,000 after purchasing an additional 25,192 shares during the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Altria Group by 14.5% in the fourth quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 97,164 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,081,000 after buying an additional 12,307 shares during the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 9,622 shares of the company’s stock valued at $503,000 after buying an additional 741 shares during the period. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC now owns 16,365 shares of the company’s stock valued at $856,000 after buying an additional 351 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Realta Investment Advisors grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 15.7% during the 4th quarter. Realta Investment Advisors now owns 9,009 shares of the company’s stock worth $479,000 after acquiring an additional 1,222 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MO. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America raised shares of Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $55.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.29.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of MO stock opened at $52.65 on Friday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $39.25 and a 52-week high of $58.03. The business’s fifty day moving average is $53.19 and its 200 day moving average is $52.42. The company has a market capitalization of $89.24 billion, a PE ratio of 8.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.64.

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

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were paid a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.75%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.