Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Shares Bought by Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC

Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC increased its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 2.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 31,559 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 895 shares during the quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,650,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Altria Group by 5.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 73,481,686 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,821,831,000 after purchasing an additional 3,910,738 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 729.8% during the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,969,262 shares of the company’s stock worth $100,511,000 after acquiring an additional 1,731,932 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 3,786.6% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,743,443 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,985,000 after acquiring an additional 1,698,585 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 2.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,803,759 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,079,919,000 after purchasing an additional 1,003,605 shares during the period. Finally, National Pension Service boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 19.9% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,034,414 shares of the company’s stock valued at $205,916,000 after purchasing an additional 670,858 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of Altria Group stock opened at $53.55 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $53.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $52.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $90.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.99, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.64. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $39.25 and a 1-year high of $58.03.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.33 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.82% and a negative return on equity of 233.80%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.28 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were paid a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.62%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 68.92%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on MO shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped 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. Barclays lifted their price target on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup lifted their target price on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.43.

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.