Beacon Financial Group Has $4.12 Million Stock Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Beacon Financial Group lessened its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 4.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 102,080 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,502 shares during the period. Beacon Financial Group’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $4,118,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jump Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group in the third quarter valued at about $261,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 28.3% in the third quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 6,250 shares of the company’s stock valued at $263,000 after buying an additional 1,380 shares during the last quarter. Truepoint Inc. bought a new position in shares of Altria Group in the third quarter valued at about $276,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 37.1% in the third quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 371,255 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,694,000 after buying an additional 100,380 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 26.0% in the third quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 84,930 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,571,000 after buying an additional 17,530 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of MO stock opened at $44.32 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $76.13 billion, a PE ratio of 9.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.64. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $44.36 and a 200-day moving average of $42.48. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $39.06 and a one year high of $47.19.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15. The company had revenue of $4.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.71 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 222.80% and a net margin of 34.81%. Altria Group’s revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.18 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.84%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.01%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Charles N. Whitaker sold 22,487 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.95, for a total value of $988,303.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 173,485 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,624,665.75. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on MO. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a report on Monday, March 25th. Argus raised Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. StockNews.com raised Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.90.

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.