Simmons Bank Has $2.16 Million Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Simmons Bank lessened its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 2.4% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 42,380 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,047 shares during the quarter. Simmons Bank’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $2,163,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Haverford Trust Co increased its stake in Altria Group by 15.1% during the 3rd quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 58,447 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,983,000 after purchasing an additional 7,677 shares in the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Altria Group by 19.4% during the 3rd quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 196,843 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,047,000 after purchasing an additional 32,005 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC increased its stake in Altria Group by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC now owns 118,392 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,043,000 after purchasing an additional 1,208 shares in the last quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Altria Group by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 32,444 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,656,000 after purchasing an additional 1,003 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Savvy Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Altria Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $267,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on MO shares. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.33.

Altria Group Stock Up 1.5 %

NYSE MO opened at $55.23 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $93.60 billion, a PE ratio of 9.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.64. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.25 and a 52 week high of $55.40. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $51.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $49.05.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.33 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.82% and a negative return on equity of 233.80%. The company’s revenue was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.28 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.39%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is 68.92%.

Altria Group Company 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.