Fiduciary Trust Co Trims Stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Fiduciary Trust Co cut its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 22,888 shares of the company’s stock after selling 300 shares during the quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,197,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Altria Group by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 59,805,286 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,127,218,000 after acquiring an additional 2,296,972 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 41,938,507 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,193,687,000 after purchasing an additional 1,134,748 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 22,273,491 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,164,681,000 after purchasing an additional 76,004 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 9.6% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,432,535 shares of the company’s stock worth $859,257,000 after buying an additional 1,444,021 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,801,958 shares of the company’s stock worth $617,124,000 after buying an additional 983,328 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Stock Down 1.6 %

MO stock opened at $59.46 on Friday. Altria Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $43.83 and a twelve month high of $61.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $100.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.60. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $58.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $55.25.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced 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. The business had revenue of $4.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.64 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 46.90% and a negative return on equity of 258.72%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.15 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 25th were paid a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 25th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.86%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 68.34%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on MO shares. Citigroup upped their price objective on Altria Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. UBS Group boosted their target price 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. StockNews.com cut shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Altria Group from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently 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.