Equitable Trust Co. Acquires 1,000 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Equitable Trust Co. raised its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 13.6% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 8,379 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the quarter. Equitable Trust Co.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $428,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 3,786.6% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,743,443 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,985,000 after purchasing an additional 1,698,585 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 25.0% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company’s stock worth $295,055,000 after buying an additional 1,299,703 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 415.4% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 984,285 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,935,000 after buying an additional 793,327 shares during the period. National Pension Service grew its stake in Altria Group by 19.9% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,034,414 shares of the company’s stock valued at $205,916,000 after buying an additional 670,858 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP bought a new position in Altria Group in the 1st quarter valued at about $27,613,000. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Altria Group stock opened at $54.05 on Monday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.25 and a 52 week high of $55.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $91.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.64. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $51.50 and a 200-day moving average of $48.85.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.33 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.28 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.55%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is 68.92%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MO. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays upped their price objective on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Altria Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.33.

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.