First National Bank & Trust Co. of Newtown Reduces Stock Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

First National Bank & Trust Co. of Newtown lessened its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 15.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 11,809 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,230 shares during the period. First National Bank & Trust Co. of Newtown’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $617,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.29.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $53.37 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $52.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $52.65. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.25 and a fifty-two week high of $58.03. The company has a market capitalization of $90.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.64.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.01. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 258.72% and a net margin of 46.90%. On average, analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th were paid a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.65%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 26th. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 62.29%.

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.