Blue Trust Inc. Acquires 5,883 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 21.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 33,941 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,883 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,732,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. True Wealth Design LLC raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 420.0% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 572 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 462 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Altria Group during the third quarter worth $34,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Altria Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $41,000. Fairman Group LLC lifted its stake in Altria Group by 85.1% during the 3rd quarter. Fairman Group LLC now owns 892 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 410 shares in the last quarter. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 330.4% during the 4th quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 977 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 750 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Bank of America upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $55.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective 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. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup increased their price target on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Altria Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.43.

Altria Group Trading Up 2.5 %

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $53.36 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $90.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.64. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $53.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $52.21. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $39.25 and a 1-year high of $58.03.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.03. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 233.80% and a net margin of 42.82%. 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 company earned $1.28 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.13 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were given a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 26th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.92%.

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.