Dakota Wealth Management Trims Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Dakota Wealth Management lowered its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 12,075 shares of the company’s stock after selling 203 shares during the period. Dakota Wealth Management’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $632,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. XML Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 40.5% in the 4th quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 37,370 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,954,000 after buying an additional 10,781 shares during the period. Simon Quick Advisors LLC grew its position in Altria Group by 25.9% in the 4th quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 10,433 shares of the company’s stock valued at $546,000 after acquiring an additional 2,148 shares in the last quarter. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Altria Group by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,230 shares of the company’s stock worth $378,000 after purchasing an additional 376 shares during the period. MCF Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 14,321 shares of the company’s stock worth $762,000 after buying an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Altria Group by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 104,623 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,577,000 after purchasing an additional 5,885 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Price Performance

NYSE:MO opened at $52.02 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $88.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.64. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $54.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $52.09. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $39.25 and a 1-year high of $58.03.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.28 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.13 earnings per share 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 paid a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.84%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.92%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MO shares. Bank of America upgraded shares of 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 report on Friday, December 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Altria Group in a report on Thursday, January 16th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $54.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Altria Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.43.

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.