Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Position Lifted by ST Germain D J Co. Inc.

ST Germain D J Co. Inc. raised its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,681 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 372 shares during the period. ST Germain D J Co. Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $188,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. raised its stake in Altria Group by 91.6% during the third quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 148,814 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,595,000 after buying an additional 71,154 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 123.4% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 28,058 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,432,000 after acquiring an additional 15,500 shares during the last quarter. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,189,000. OmniStar Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Altria Group by 95.6% during the third quarter. OmniStar Financial Group Inc. now owns 31,784 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,623,000 after purchasing an additional 15,532 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Altria Group in the third quarter worth $290,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Citigroup increased their price target on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays raised their price target on Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price objective on Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $48.20.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of Altria Group stock opened at $49.61 on Friday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $39.06 and a 1-year high of $54.95. The company has a market capitalization of $85.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.38, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.65. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $51.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $47.79.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $6.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.39 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 232.55% and a net margin of 42.25%. The business’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 company earned $1.31 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This is a positive change from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 85.36%.

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.