Cidel Asset Management Inc. Sells 610 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Cidel Asset Management Inc. reduced its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 3.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,750 shares of the company’s stock after selling 610 shares during the quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,033,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp increased its position in Altria Group by 5.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 73,481,686 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,821,831,000 after acquiring an additional 3,910,738 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 729.8% during the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,969,262 shares of the company’s stock worth $100,511,000 after purchasing an additional 1,731,932 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 3,786.6% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,743,443 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,985,000 after purchasing an additional 1,698,585 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 2.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,803,759 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,079,919,000 after purchasing an additional 1,003,605 shares during the period. Finally, National Pension Service raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 19.9% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,034,414 shares of the company’s stock valued at $205,916,000 after buying an additional 670,858 shares in the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on MO. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America upgraded Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.29.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $52.65 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $53.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $52.42. The firm has a market cap of $89.24 billion, a PE ratio of 8.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.64. 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, 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, research analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were issued a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.75%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.29%.

Altria Group 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.