Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Holdings Lifted by CFM Wealth Partners LLC

CFM Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 82,341 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 470 shares during the quarter. CFM Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $4,306,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 420.0% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 572 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 462 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group during the third quarter valued at $34,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Altria Group during the third quarter valued at $41,000. Fairman Group LLC boosted its position in Altria Group by 85.1% during the 3rd quarter. Fairman Group LLC now owns 892 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 410 shares during the period. Finally, Luken Investment Analytics LLC purchased a new position in Altria Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $47,000. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Bank of America upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.29.

Altria Group Stock Performance

MO opened at $52.20 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $88.46 billion, a PE ratio of 7.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.64. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $53.57 and a 200-day moving average of $52.35. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $39.25 and a 52-week high of $58.03.

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

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th were paid a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.82%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is presently 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.