Twin Tree Management LP Sells 165,322 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Twin Tree Management LP reduced its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 82.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 34,924 shares of the company’s stock after selling 165,322 shares during the quarter. Twin Tree Management LP’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,826,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MO. Truvestments Capital LLC raised its holdings in Altria Group by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 4,581 shares of the company’s stock worth $240,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Altria Group by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC now owns 40,362 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,060,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. Enterprise Financial Services Corp raised its holdings in Altria Group by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Enterprise Financial Services Corp now owns 5,052 shares of the company’s stock worth $264,000 after acquiring an additional 194 shares during the last quarter. Horst & Graben Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Altria Group by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Horst & Graben Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,015 shares of the company’s stock worth $681,000 after acquiring an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc raised its holdings in Altria Group by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc now owns 6,302 shares of the company’s stock worth $330,000 after acquiring an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Altria Group Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of MO opened at $58.31 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $98.59 billion, a PE ratio of 8.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.56. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $54.03 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $53.38. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $40.65 and a 1-year high of $59.67.

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

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 25th will be given a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 25th. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 62.29%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on MO shares. 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. Bank of America upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.29.

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.