First Citizens Financial Corp Takes Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

First Citizens Financial Corp purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 4,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $214,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in Altria Group by 120.6% in the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,762,047 shares of the company’s stock valued at $382,201,000 after buying an additional 4,789,788 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Altria Group by 25.0% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company’s stock valued at $295,055,000 after acquiring an additional 1,299,703 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in Altria Group by 415.4% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 984,285 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,935,000 after acquiring an additional 793,327 shares during the period. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP bought a new position in Altria Group in the 1st quarter valued at about $27,613,000. Finally, Distillate Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Altria Group by 182,943.7% in the 2nd quarter. Distillate Capital Partners LLC now owns 569,266 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,930,000 after acquiring an additional 568,955 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of MO opened at $49.98 on Friday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $39.06 and a 12 month high of $54.95. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $51.59 and its 200-day moving average is $47.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $85.85 billion, a PE ratio of 10.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.65.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $6.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.39 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 232.55% and a net margin of 42.25%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.31 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $1.02 per share. This is a positive change from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.16%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 85.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

About Altria Group

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.