Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Shares Sold by Burney Co.

Burney Co. cut its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 12.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 12,255 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,809 shares during the period. Burney Co.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $535,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Atria Investments Inc raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 10.0% in the 1st quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 102,257 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,460,000 after purchasing an additional 9,290 shares during the period. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in Altria Group during the first quarter valued at approximately $293,000. Independent Wealth Network Inc. grew its stake in Altria Group by 3.6% during the first quarter. Independent Wealth Network Inc. now owns 18,550 shares of the company’s stock worth $809,000 after buying an additional 637 shares during the period. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 15.7% in the first quarter. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC now owns 7,637 shares of the company’s stock worth $333,000 after acquiring an additional 1,037 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Beacon Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 48.9% in the 1st quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 8,345 shares of the company’s stock valued at $364,000 after acquiring an additional 2,740 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of Altria Group stock traded up $1.05 during trading on Friday, reaching $51.07. The company had a trading volume of 12,662,503 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,285,990. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.06 and a fifty-two week high of $51.40. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $47.07 and its 200-day moving average is $43.97. The company has a market cap of $87.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.66.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $6.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.39 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 232.55% and a net margin of 42.25%. Altria Group’s revenue was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.31 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 10th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were given a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.68%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 82.01%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MO. Argus raised shares of Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. StockNews.com raised Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 28th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.90.

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.