Financial Counselors Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Financial Counselors Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 7.5% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 19,896 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,624 shares during the quarter. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $906,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Albion Financial Group UT boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 49.1% during the 1st quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 2,767 shares of the company’s stock worth $121,000 after purchasing an additional 911 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in Altria Group by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,027,886 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,960,000 after purchasing an additional 16,541 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 24.2% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 57,111 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,304,000 after purchasing an additional 11,111 shares in the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 7.2% in the 1st quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,953 shares of the company’s stock worth $260,000 after purchasing an additional 399 shares during the period. Finally, &PARTNERS bought a new position in shares of Altria Group during the first quarter valued at approximately $556,000. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of MO stock opened at $54.07 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $49.65 and a 200 day moving average of $45.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $92.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.66. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $39.06 and a 1 year high of $54.47.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $6.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.39 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 232.55% and a net margin of 42.25%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.31 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a $1.02 dividend. 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%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is 85.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on MO. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Argus upgraded Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $47.08.

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.