Kimelman & Baird LLC Invests $127,000 in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Kimelman & Baird LLC acquired a new position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 2,779 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $127,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MO. Albion Financial Group UT raised its stake in Altria Group by 49.1% during the 1st quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 2,767 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,000 after purchasing an additional 911 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in Altria Group by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,027,886 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,960,000 after purchasing an additional 16,541 shares during the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Altria Group by 7.2% during the 1st quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,953 shares of the company’s stock valued at $260,000 after purchasing an additional 399 shares during the last quarter. &PARTNERS acquired a new position in Altria Group during the 1st quarter valued at $556,000. Finally, Bridgefront Capital LLC acquired a new position in Altria Group during the 4th quarter valued at $982,000. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Altria Group Stock Performance

MO opened at $51.04 on Tuesday. Altria Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $39.06 and a twelve month high of $54.95. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $51.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $47.20. The firm has a market cap of $87.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.68, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.65.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $6.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.39 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.31 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.99%. This is a positive change from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 85.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.67.

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.