Dover Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

by · The Cerbat Gem

Dover Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO – Free Report) by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,037 shares of the company’s stock after selling 880 shares during the quarter. Dover Advisors LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $665,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MO. Centaurus Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Altria Group by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 17,801 shares of the company’s stock worth $718,000 after buying an additional 770 shares during the period. Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the fourth quarter worth $44,000. SageView Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 45.6% during the fourth quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 39,270 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,589,000 after purchasing an additional 12,294 shares during the last quarter. Leo Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the fourth quarter worth $598,000. Finally, First Financial Bank Trust Division lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 7.1% during the first quarter. First Financial Bank Trust Division now owns 7,317 shares of the company’s stock worth $319,000 after purchasing an additional 485 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays lifted their target price on Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. StockNews.com downgraded Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $48.20.

Check Out Our Latest Report on Altria Group

Altria Group Stock Performance

MO traded up $0.05 on Tuesday, hitting $49.91. The company had a trading volume of 5,136,980 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,019,042. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $51.56 and a 200-day moving average price of $47.63. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.06 and a 12-month high of $54.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $85.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.65.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.04). Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 232.55% and a net margin of 42.25%. The business had revenue of $6.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.31 EPS. Altria Group’s revenue was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $1.02 per share. This is a positive change from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.17%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is presently 85.36%.

About Altria Group

(Free Report)

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.

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