Motco Cuts Stake in Altria Group, Inc. $MO

Motco lessened its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 29.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,935 shares of the company’s stock after selling 819 shares during the period. Motco’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $120,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of MO. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in Altria Group by 64.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 17,702 shares of the company’s stock valued at $926,000 after acquiring an additional 6,954 shares in the last quarter. Smith Salley Wealth Management grew its stake in Altria Group by 24.0% during the 1st quarter. Smith Salley Wealth Management now owns 7,238 shares of the company’s stock valued at $434,000 after acquiring an additional 1,399 shares in the last quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC grew its stake in Altria Group by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC now owns 25,175 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,511,000 after acquiring an additional 871 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its stake in Altria Group by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 246,700 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,807,000 after acquiring an additional 10,931 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DAVENPORT & Co LLC grew its stake in Altria Group by 8.1% during the 1st quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 313,424 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,810,000 after acquiring an additional 23,604 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Trading Down 2.1%

Shares of MO stock opened at $61.93 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $104.03 billion, a PE ratio of 11.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.55. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $65.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $61.90. Altria Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $49.88 and a twelve month high of $68.60.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $5.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.21 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 37.24% and a negative return on equity of 295.26%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.31 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th were issued a $1.06 dividend. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 82.01%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on MO shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Altria Group from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 price target on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $50.00 price target for the company. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Altria Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $47.00 to $59.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.11.

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.