Sunbelt Securities Inc. Has $4.42 Million Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 27.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 84,826 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 18,448 shares during the quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $4,418,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Csenge Advisory Group lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 29.1% in the fourth quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 54,684 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,859,000 after buying an additional 12,320 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 27.6% in the 4th quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 2,418,074 shares of the company’s stock worth $126,441,000 after acquiring an additional 523,146 shares in the last quarter. Burford Brothers Inc. raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 40.3% in the 4th quarter. Burford Brothers Inc. now owns 36,951 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,932,000 after acquiring an additional 10,605 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 3,414,856 shares of the company’s stock valued at $178,563,000 after purchasing an additional 39,341 shares during the period. Finally, Impact Partnership Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $920,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Altria Group from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley decreased 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. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC initiated coverage on Altria Group in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.00.

Altria Group Trading Down 0.3%

NYSE MO opened at $59.30 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $58.10 and a 200 day simple moving average of $55.64. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $43.83 and a 12-month high of $61.26. The company has a market cap of $99.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.05, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.60.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued 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. The firm had revenue of $4.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.64 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 46.90% and a negative return on equity of 258.72%. The business’s revenue was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.15 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.88%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.34%.

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.