CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. Sells 371 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. reduced its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 15.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,081 shares of the company’s stock after selling 371 shares during the period. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $109,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Algert Global LLC grew its holdings in Altria Group by 32.0% in the 2nd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 9,600 shares of the company’s stock worth $437,000 after acquiring an additional 2,330 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank increased its holdings in Altria Group by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 347,576 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,740,000 after purchasing an additional 20,265 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Altria Group by 38.7% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 28,656 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,463,000 after purchasing an additional 7,994 shares during the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co raised its position in Altria Group by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 12,391 shares of the company’s stock valued at $632,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bangor Savings Bank lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 11,535 shares of the company’s stock worth $589,000 after buying an additional 1,443 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America upgraded Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $55.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Altria Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.29.

Altria Group Stock Performance

MO stock opened at $52.66 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.04, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.64. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $53.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $52.39. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $39.25 and a 52-week high of $58.03.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.01. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 258.72% and a net margin of 46.90%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th were given a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.75%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 26th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 62.29%.

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.