Fiduciary Financial Group LLC Has $335,000 Stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Fiduciary Financial Group LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 3.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 6,594 shares of the company’s stock after selling 210 shares during the period. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $335,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MO. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 5.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 73,481,686 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,821,831,000 after buying an additional 3,910,738 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 1.0% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 57,508,314 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,935,224,000 after buying an additional 589,832 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 2.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,803,759 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,079,919,000 after buying an additional 1,003,605 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 1.6% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,355,509 shares of the company’s stock valued at $562,793,000 after buying an additional 191,236 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 25.0% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company’s stock valued at $295,055,000 after buying an additional 1,299,703 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of MO stock opened at $51.32 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $54.44 and a 200-day moving average of $51.92. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.25 and a 12-month high of $58.03. The company has a market capitalization of $86.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.67, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.64.

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

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were given a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.95%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 26th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is 68.92%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MO. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price 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. Finally, Barclays upped their target price 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.33.

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.