Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Shares Sold by Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY

Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY reduced its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 9.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 21,156 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,150 shares during the quarter. Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,080,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 4,789,788 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,299,703 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 415.4% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 984,285 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,935,000 after buying an additional 793,327 shares in the last quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP acquired a new position in Altria Group during the first quarter worth $27,613,000. Finally, Distillate Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Altria Group by 182,943.7% during the second quarter. Distillate Capital Partners LLC now owns 569,266 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,930,000 after acquiring an additional 568,955 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on MO shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective 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. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on Altria Group from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.67.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MO traded up $0.12 on Friday, hitting $50.10. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,410,989 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,159,582. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $51.59 and a 200-day moving average of $47.33. The company has a market capitalization of $86.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.65. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.06 and a 12-month high of $54.95.

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

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 85.36%.

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.