City State Bank Sells 269 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

City State Bank cut its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 2.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,468 shares of the company’s stock after selling 269 shares during the period. City State Bank’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $547,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MO. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Altria Group by 5.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 73,481,686 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,821,831,000 after purchasing an additional 3,910,738 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 729.8% in 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 acquiring an additional 1,731,932 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 3,786.6% in 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 during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 25.0% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company’s stock valued at $295,055,000 after acquiring an additional 1,299,703 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 2.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,803,759 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,079,919,000 after acquiring an additional 1,003,605 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE MO traded up $0.06 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $50.93. The stock had a trading volume of 1,278,547 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,024,854. The business’s 50 day moving average is $54.56 and its 200-day moving average is $51.84. The company has a market cap of $86.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.60, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.64. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.25 and a 52 week high of $58.03.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.33 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.82% and a negative return on equity of 233.80%. The business’s revenue was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.28 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th were issued a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.01%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 26th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.92%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on MO shares. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup boosted their price target 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. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.33.

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.