Raymond James & Associates Has $76.59 Million Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Raymond James & Associates decreased its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,500,629 shares of the company’s stock after selling 13,908 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates owned approximately 0.09% of Altria Group worth $76,592,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MO. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 91.6% during the third quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 148,814 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,595,000 after acquiring an additional 71,154 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 123.4% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 28,058 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,432,000 after purchasing an additional 15,500 shares during the last quarter. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Altria Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,189,000. OmniStar Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Altria Group by 95.6% in the 3rd quarter. OmniStar Financial Group Inc. now owns 31,784 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,623,000 after buying an additional 15,532 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Altria Group during the 3rd quarter worth $290,000. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Two 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 MarketBeat.com, Altria Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $48.20.

Altria Group Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of Altria Group stock opened at $49.07 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $84.28 billion, a PE ratio of 10.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a 50 day moving average of $51.51 and a 200-day moving average of $47.88. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $39.06 and a 1-year high of $54.95.

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

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Altria Group’s payout ratio is currently 85.36%.

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.