Paces Ferry Wealth Advisors LLC Lowers Stock Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Paces Ferry Wealth Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 4.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,481 shares of the company’s stock after selling 214 shares during the quarter. Paces Ferry Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $234,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MO. LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in Altria Group by 11.9% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 3,128,789 shares of the company’s stock valued at $163,604,000 after purchasing an additional 331,747 shares during the period. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC now owns 14,270 shares of the company’s stock worth $746,000 after buying an additional 303 shares during the last quarter. Blueprint Investment Partners LLC increased its position in Altria Group by 115.5% in the 4th quarter. Blueprint Investment Partners LLC now owns 13,115 shares of the company’s stock valued at $686,000 after acquiring an additional 7,030 shares during the period. Mosley Wealth Management raised its stake in Altria Group by 7.6% during the 4th quarter. Mosley Wealth Management now owns 12,574 shares of the company’s stock valued at $662,000 after acquiring an additional 892 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Guardian Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in Altria Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $489,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MO. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.29.

Altria Group Stock Down 1.1 %

NYSE:MO opened at $57.46 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $54.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $53.47. The stock has a market cap of $97.14 billion, a PE ratio of 8.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.56. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $40.65 and a fifty-two week high of $59.67.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.01. Altria Group had a net margin of 46.90% and a negative return on equity of 258.72%. Equities analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 25th will be given a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 25th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.10%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 62.29%.

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.