First National Bank & Trust Co. of Newtown Lowers Stock Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

First National Bank & Trust Co. of Newtown lowered its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 14,039 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,150 shares during the quarter. First National Bank & Trust Co. of Newtown’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $717,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MO. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 63.9% in the 2nd quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 667 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Fairman Group LLC increased its stake in Altria Group by 85.1% during the third quarter. Fairman Group LLC now owns 892 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 410 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lynx Investment Advisory bought a new stake in Altria Group in the second quarter worth $44,000. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Altria Group Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE:MO opened at $53.54 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $51.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $48.70. The stock has a market cap of $90.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.64. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.25 and a fifty-two week high of $55.05.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.33 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.82% and a negative return on equity of 233.80%. Altria Group’s revenue was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.28 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This is a positive change from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.62%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is currently 68.92%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on MO. Bank of America reduced their target price on Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. UBS Group raised their price target on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, 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 report on Wednesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.33.

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.