Daymark Wealth Partners LLC Purchases 282 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Daymark Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 0.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 30,110 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 282 shares during the quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,574,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MO. Albion Financial Group UT raised its position in Altria Group by 46.1% in the 4th quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 2,760 shares of the company’s stock worth $144,000 after purchasing an additional 871 shares during the last quarter. XML Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 40.5% during the fourth quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 37,370 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,954,000 after buying an additional 10,781 shares during the last quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Altria Group by 25.9% during the 4th quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 10,433 shares of the company’s stock worth $546,000 after acquiring an additional 2,148 shares during the last quarter. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,230 shares of the company’s stock worth $378,000 after purchasing an additional 376 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MCF Advisors LLC grew its stake in Altria Group by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 14,321 shares of the company’s stock valued at $762,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MO. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Altria Group in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $54.00 price target for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Altria Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.43.

Altria Group Stock Performance

NYSE MO opened at $50.82 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $86.14 billion, a PE ratio of 8.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.64. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $54.19 and a 200-day moving average of $52.11. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $39.25 and a 52-week high of $58.03.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.33 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 233.80% and a net margin of 42.82%. The business’s revenue was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.28 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were given a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.03%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 26th. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 68.92%.

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.