Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Holdings Increased by CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp

CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 248,864 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 6,193 shares during the quarter. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp's holdings in Altria Group were worth $13,013,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MO. True Wealth Design LLC grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 462 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Altria Group in the third quarter valued at about $34,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Altria Group during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Fairman Group LLC increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 410 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legend Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Altria Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $52,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Altria Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Bank of America upgraded Altria Group from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $53.43.

Altria Group Trading Up 0.2 %

MO traded up $0.10 during trading on Thursday, reaching $51.14. 5,960,215 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,637,479. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.25 and a 52 week high of $58.03. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $54.38 and a 200 day moving average of $51.91. The stock has a market cap of $86.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.64, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.64.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $6.26 billion for 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 for the quarter was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.28 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 7.98%. Altria Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.