Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Holdings Lowered by US Bancorp DE

US Bancorp DE decreased its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 0.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 596,588 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,766 shares during the quarter. US Bancorp DE’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $30,450,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BNP Paribas acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the first quarter worth $27,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Altria Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 63.9% in the second quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 667 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lynx Investment Advisory acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the second quarter worth approximately $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MO has been the topic of several research reports. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Bank of America dropped their target price on Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.17.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MO opened at $53.87 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $91.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.65. The business has a 50-day moving average of $51.42 and a two-hundred day moving average of $48.38. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.25 and a fifty-two week high of $54.95.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.02. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 232.55% and a net margin of 42.25%. The firm had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.33 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.28 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $1.02 per share. This is a positive change from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.57%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is currently 70.34%.

About Altria Group

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.