Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC Trims Stock Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 2.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 23,600 shares of the company’s stock after selling 614 shares during the period. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,234,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in Altria Group by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 177,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,257,000 after buying an additional 6,031 shares during the last quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC raised its position in Altria Group by 13.0% in the 4th quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 19,378 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,013,000 after purchasing an additional 2,225 shares during the last quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. boosted its stake in Altria Group by 37.7% during the 4th quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 5,935 shares of the company’s stock worth $310,000 after purchasing an additional 1,626 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its position in Altria Group by 93.9% during the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 708,088 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,026,000 after purchasing an additional 342,953 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CX Institutional increased its stake in Altria Group by 21.9% in the fourth quarter. CX Institutional now owns 125,488 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,562,000 after purchasing an additional 22,506 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $54.00 target price for the company. Bank of America raised Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $55.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup boosted 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. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Altria Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.43.

Altria Group Stock Up 1.6 %

NYSE:MO opened at $52.02 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $53.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $52.17. The stock has a market cap of $88.17 billion, a PE ratio of 8.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.64. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.25 and a fifty-two week high of $58.03.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its 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. The company had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.33 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.82% and a negative return on equity of 233.80%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.28 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.84%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 68.92%.

Altria Group Company 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.