Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Shares Sold by JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd

JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd trimmed its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 9.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,300 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,000 shares during the quarter. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $486,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Czech National Bank raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 367,469 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,215,000 after purchasing an additional 19,893 shares in the last quarter. Csenge Advisory Group raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 29.1% in the 4th quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 54,684 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,859,000 after purchasing an additional 12,320 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 27.6% in the 4th quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 2,418,074 shares of the company’s stock valued at $126,441,000 after buying an additional 523,146 shares during the last quarter. Burford Brothers Inc. grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 40.3% in the 4th quarter. Burford Brothers Inc. now owns 36,951 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,932,000 after buying an additional 10,605 shares during the last quarter. Finally, XML Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 40.5% in the 4th quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 37,370 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,954,000 after buying an additional 10,781 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Altria Group from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Altria Group from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Altria Group from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $56.00.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of Altria Group stock opened at $59.46 on Monday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $43.83 and a 1 year high of $61.26. The company has a market capitalization of $100.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.08, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.60. The company’s fifty day moving average is $58.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $55.29.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $4.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.64 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 46.90% and a negative return on equity of 258.72%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.15 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 25th were given a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.86%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 25th. Altria Group’s payout ratio is currently 68.34%.

About Altria Group

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.