Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY Sells 1,000 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY lowered its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 4.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,156 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,000 shares during the quarter. Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,054,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Altria Group by 5.6% in the 3rd 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 period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 1.0% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 57,508,314 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,935,224,000 after buying an additional 589,832 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,803,759 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,079,919,000 after buying an additional 1,003,605 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,355,509 shares of the company’s stock valued at $562,793,000 after acquiring an additional 191,236 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Altria Group by 25.0% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company’s stock worth $295,055,000 after acquiring an additional 1,299,703 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE:MO traded down $0.03 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $50.84. 5,809,977 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,711,400. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $54.56 and its 200-day moving average is $51.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.59, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.64. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.25 and a 12-month high of $58.03.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.03. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 233.80% and a net margin of 42.82%. The business had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.33 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.28 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were issued a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 26th. Altria Group’s payout ratio is presently 68.92%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Citigroup increased their target price on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective 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. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.