Simplicity Wealth LLC Sells 32,036 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Simplicity Wealth LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 57.0% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 24,149 shares of the company’s stock after selling 32,036 shares during the quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,233,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MO. Albion Financial Group UT increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 49.1% in the first quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 2,767 shares of the company’s stock worth $121,000 after purchasing an additional 911 shares during the period. CWM LLC increased its stake in Altria Group by 15.3% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 305,704 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,603,000 after acquiring an additional 40,574 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,027,886 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,960,000 after purchasing an additional 16,541 shares during the last quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Altria Group by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 251,933 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,476,000 after buying an additional 10,079 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atomi Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 7.2% during the first quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,953 shares of the company’s stock valued at $260,000 after acquiring an additional 399 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MO. UBS Group raised their price objective on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $50.17.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $49.84 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $85.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.65. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $51.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $47.56. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $39.06 and a 1-year high of $54.95.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share 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 net margin of 42.25% and a negative return on equity of 232.55%. The firm’s revenue was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.31 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $1.02 dividend. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.19%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 85.36%.

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.