Essex Savings Bank Sells 1,200 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Essex Savings Bank decreased its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 10,566 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,200 shares during the quarter. Essex Savings Bank’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $539,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. CWM LLC boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 15.3% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 305,704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,603,000 after acquiring an additional 40,574 shares during the last quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 251,933 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,476,000 after acquiring an additional 10,079 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 1,456,308 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,330,000 after acquiring an additional 32,318 shares during the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 7.2% during the 1st quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,953 shares of the company’s stock valued at $260,000 after acquiring an additional 399 shares during the last quarter. Finally, White Lighthouse Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group during the 3rd quarter valued at about $483,000. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Stock Up 1.0 %

NYSE MO opened at $54.05 on Friday. Altria Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $39.25 and a twelve month high of $55.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $91.60 billion, a PE ratio of 9.13, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.64. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $51.50 and its 200 day moving average is $48.81.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.33 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.28 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.55%. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 68.92%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on MO shares. StockNews.com raised Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Citigroup raised 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted 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. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $51.33.

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.