Stifel Financial Corp Purchases 41,930 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Stifel Financial Corp lifted its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,452,188 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 41,930 shares during the quarter. Stifel Financial Corp’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $75,934,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MO. Financial Life Planners purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Redwood Park Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Altria Group in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Marshall Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Altria Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Promus Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Altria Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Altria Group Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of NYSE:MO opened at $58.87 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $99.53 billion, a PE ratio of 8.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.54. The company’s 50 day moving average is $56.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $54.39. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $42.40 and a 52 week high of $60.18.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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, equities research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 25th will be given a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 25th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.93%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.29%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MO has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group increased their price objective on Altria Group from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $54.00.

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.