TCV Trust & Wealth Management Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

TCV Trust & Wealth Management Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 48,971 shares of the company’s stock after selling 995 shares during the period. TCV Trust & Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $2,499,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MO. BNP Paribas acquired a new position in Altria Group during the 1st quarter worth $27,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Altria Group in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Altria Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 63.9% during the 2nd quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 667 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lynx Investment Advisory acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MO. StockNews.com cut Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Citigroup lifted their target price on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $48.20.

Altria Group Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE MO opened at $49.71 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $51.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $48.06. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.06 and a 52 week high of $54.95. The stock has a market cap of $85.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.65.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $6.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.39 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 232.55% and a net margin of 42.25%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.31 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.21%. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 85.36%.

Altria Group Company Profile

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.