HM Payson & Co. Has $2.43 Million Stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

HM Payson & Co. reduced its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 0.5% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 47,574 shares of the company’s stock after selling 256 shares during the quarter. HM Payson & Co.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $2,428,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 1.6% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,355,509 shares of the company’s stock valued at $562,793,000 after buying an additional 191,236 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised 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 worth $295,055,000 after acquiring an additional 1,299,703 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Altria Group by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,060,589 shares of the company’s stock valued at $230,510,000 after acquiring an additional 243,201 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management increased its holdings in Altria Group by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 4,888,137 shares of the company’s stock worth $222,655,000 after purchasing an additional 215,594 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LPL Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 9.1% in the second quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 2,677,025 shares of the company’s stock worth $121,938,000 after purchasing an additional 224,206 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on MO shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. UBS Group increased their target price 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. Bank of America reduced their target price on Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Barclays lifted their price target on Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $48.20.

Altria Group Stock Up 7.8 %

Shares of MO stock opened at $54.46 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $92.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.39, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a 50 day moving average of $51.39 and a 200-day moving average of $48.29. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.25 and a 12-month high of $54.95.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released 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 firm had revenue of $6.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.39 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 232.55% and a net margin of 42.25%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.31 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.49%. This is a positive change from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.