UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp Has $718,000 Stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp lessened its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 9.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,731 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,479 shares during the period. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $718,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MO. Florida Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group in the fourth quarter worth $205,000. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. grew its stake in Altria Group by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 107,385 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,615,000 after buying an additional 2,960 shares in the last quarter. PKS Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in Altria Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $484,000. TIAA Trust National Association lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 61,816 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,232,000 after acquiring an additional 292 shares during the period. Finally, Ashton Thomas Securities LLC boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 12.3% during the 4th quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 4,305 shares of the company’s stock worth $226,000 after acquiring an additional 470 shares in the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America raised Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.29.

Altria Group Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of MO stock opened at $57.74 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $97.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.56. Altria Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $40.65 and a twelve month high of $59.67. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $54.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $53.54.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.01. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 258.72% and a net margin of 46.90%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 25th will be paid a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 25th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.07%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is 62.29%.

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.