Claro Advisors LLC Sells 593 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Claro Advisors LLC cut its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 6.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 8,462 shares of the company’s stock after selling 593 shares during the quarter. Claro Advisors LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $442,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MO. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC raised its stake in Altria Group by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC now owns 4,058 shares of the company’s stock valued at $212,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital raised its stake in Altria Group by 54.6% in the 4th quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 19,447 shares of the company’s stock valued at $989,000 after acquiring an additional 6,872 shares during the period. Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc now owns 6,302 shares of the company’s stock valued at $330,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA boosted its position in Altria Group by 114.3% during the fourth quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 10,365 shares of the company’s stock worth $542,000 after purchasing an additional 5,528 shares during the period. Finally, Brookstone Capital Management increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 117,971 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,169,000 after purchasing an additional 5,231 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America upgraded Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.33.

Altria Group Price Performance

Altria Group stock opened at $51.32 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $86.98 billion, a PE ratio of 8.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.64. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $54.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $51.92. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $39.25 and a one year high of $58.03.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.03. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 233.80% and a net margin of 42.82%. The company had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.33 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.28 earnings per share. Altria Group’s revenue was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

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. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.95%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is 68.92%.

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.