Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Shares Sold by Bison Wealth LLC

Bison Wealth LLC lessened its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 25.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,871 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,340 shares during the quarter. Bison Wealth LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $516,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Altria Group by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,159,890 shares of the company’s stock valued at $107,679,000 after purchasing an additional 46,697 shares during the period. Czech National Bank raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 367,469 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,215,000 after buying an additional 19,893 shares during the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 240,454 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,573,000 after buying an additional 12,011 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB grew its holdings in Altria Group by 48.8% in the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 89,761 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,581,000 after buying an additional 29,421 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Csenge Advisory Group increased its position in Altria Group by 29.1% in the 4th quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 54,684 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,859,000 after acquiring an additional 12,320 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $59.11 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $57.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $54.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.02, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.54. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $43.37 and a 52-week high of $60.18.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $4.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.15 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 25th were issued a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 25th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.90%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is currently 68.34%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MO. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Altria Group from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $60.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup lifted their price target on Altria Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Altria Group from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.57.

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.