Eastern Bank Has $718,000 Stock Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Eastern Bank cut its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 15.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 13,725 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,500 shares during the quarter. Eastern Bank’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $718,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. True Wealth Design LLC increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 420.0% during the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 572 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 462 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Altria Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $34,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Altria Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $41,000. Fairman Group LLC grew its stake in Altria Group by 85.1% in the 3rd quarter. Fairman Group LLC now owns 892 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 410 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legend Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Altria Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $52,000. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on MO. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of 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 given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Altria Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.33.

Altria Group Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of Altria Group stock opened at $50.84 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $54.50 and a 200-day moving average of $51.88. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $39.25 and a 1-year high of $58.03. The company has a market cap of $86.16 billion, a PE ratio of 8.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.64.

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

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were paid a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.03%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 26th. Altria Group’s payout ratio is currently 68.92%.

Altria Group 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.