Fortitude Family Office LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Fortitude Family Office LLC decreased its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 18.1% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,227 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,157 shares during the period. Fortitude Family Office LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $314,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MO. Csenge Advisory Group boosted its position in Altria Group by 29.1% in the fourth quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 54,684 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,859,000 after purchasing an additional 12,320 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp boosted its position in Altria Group by 27.6% in the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 2,418,074 shares of the company’s stock worth $126,441,000 after purchasing an additional 523,146 shares during the last quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund boosted its position in Altria Group by 40.2% in the fourth quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 70,826 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,703,000 after purchasing an additional 20,309 shares during the last quarter. First Merchants Corp boosted its position in Altria Group by 56.1% in the fourth quarter. First Merchants Corp now owns 27,983 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,463,000 after purchasing an additional 10,058 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WealthCare Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in Altria Group by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. WealthCare Investment Partners LLC now owns 19,913 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,046,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Stock Performance

NYSE:MO opened at $59.92 on Thursday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $43.83 and a 52-week high of $61.26. The firm has a market cap of $100.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.15, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.60. The business’s fifty day moving average is $58.58 and its 200 day moving average is $56.08.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.04. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 258.72% and a net margin of 46.90%. The company had revenue of $4.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.15 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 68.34%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on MO shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Altria Group from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Altria Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Altria Group from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays boosted their target price on Altria Group from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $60.00 target price on Altria Group in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $56.00.

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.