Compton Financial Group LLC Sells 546 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Compton Financial Group LLC cut its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,554 shares of the company’s stock after selling 546 shares during the quarter. Altria Group makes up approximately 0.1% of Compton Financial Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest holding. Compton Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $283,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MO. Albion Financial Group UT lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 49.1% during the 1st quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 2,767 shares of the company’s stock worth $121,000 after purchasing an additional 911 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 15.3% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 305,704 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,603,000 after buying an additional 40,574 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Altria Group by 1.6% in 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 in the last quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 4.2% in the second 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% in the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Price Performance

Altria Group stock traded down $0.15 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $50.01. The stock had a trading volume of 920,247 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,948,470. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $51.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $47.70. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.06 and a 52 week high of $54.95. The stock has a market cap of $85.90 billion, a PE ratio of 10.49, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.65.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $6.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.39 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 232.55% and a net margin of 42.25%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.31 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $1.02 dividend. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.16%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 85.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MO. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. StockNews.com lowered Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. 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. Finally, Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $48.20.

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.