Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Shares Sold by Evermay Wealth Management LLC

Evermay Wealth Management LLC lowered its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 19.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,517 shares of the company’s stock after selling 362 shares during the quarter. Evermay Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $79,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MO. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its position in Altria Group by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 3,754,522 shares of the company’s stock worth $163,772,000 after purchasing an additional 54,096 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 6.3% in the first quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 41,823 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,824,000 after buying an additional 2,471 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 56.3% during the first quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 32,685 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,426,000 after buying an additional 11,779 shares during the period. Teamwork Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Altria Group by 6.9% during the first quarter. Teamwork Financial Advisors LLC now owns 10,715 shares of the company’s stock worth $467,000 after acquiring an additional 689 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Everett Harris & Co. CA grew its stake in Altria Group by 6.1% in the 1st quarter. Everett Harris & Co. CA now owns 16,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $733,000 after acquiring an additional 966 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MO. StockNews.com cut Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays raised 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. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Altria Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $48.20.

Altria Group Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of MO stock opened at $50.49 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $86.15 billion, a PE ratio of 8.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.65. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $48.25. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.25 and a 52 week high of $54.95.

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

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This is a positive change from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.08%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 70.34%.

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.