Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Shares Bought by Davis R M Inc.

Davis R M Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 7.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 7,883 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 552 shares during the quarter. Davis R M Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $412,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Financial Life Planners acquired a new position in Altria Group during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 420.0% during the third 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 third quarter worth about $34,000. Marshall Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Altria Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Promus Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Altria Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MO has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America raised shares of Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Altria Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.29.

Altria Group Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $58.17 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $98.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.56. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $53.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $53.20. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $40.65 and a 12-month high of $59.67.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.01. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 258.72% and a net margin of 46.90%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 25th will be given a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 25th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.29%.

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.