Halpern Financial Inc. Has $43,000 Stock Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Halpern Financial Inc. cut its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 28.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 850 shares of the company’s stock after selling 330 shares during the quarter. Halpern Financial Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $43,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. First Citizens Financial Corp acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $214,000. Private Client Services LLC acquired a new stake in Altria Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $265,000. Dominguez Wealth Management Solutions Inc. acquired a new position in Altria Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $209,000. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its stake in Altria Group by 14.1% during the third quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 63,043 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,218,000 after acquiring an additional 7,788 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Johnson & White Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Altria Group by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. Johnson & White Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,438 shares of the company’s stock valued at $533,000 after buying an additional 1,001 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MO. Bank of America raised their target price on Altria Group from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Barclays boosted their target price on Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.67.

Altria Group Price Performance

MO stock traded up $0.12 during trading on Friday, hitting $50.10. 7,410,989 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,159,582. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $51.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.33. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $39.06 and a 1 year high of $54.95. The company has a market cap of $86.05 billion, a PE ratio of 10.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.65.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued 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 analysts’ expectations of $5.39 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 232.55% and a net margin of 42.25%. Altria Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.31 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid 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 8.14%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 85.36%.

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.