Tompkins Financial Corp Acquires 6,000 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Tompkins Financial Corp grew its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) by 96.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 12,201 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 6,000 shares during the period. Tompkins Financial Corp's holdings in Altria Group were worth $638,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Aviance Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Altria Group by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC now owns 40,362 shares of the company's stock worth $2,060,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. Delta Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Delta Investment Management LLC now owns 7,064 shares of the company's stock valued at $322,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc now owns 6,302 shares of the company's stock valued at $330,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares in the last quarter. American Institute for Advanced Investment Management LLP grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 3.5% during the third quarter. American Institute for Advanced Investment Management LLP now owns 5,860 shares of the company's stock worth $299,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ridgecrest Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Ridgecrest Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,851 shares of the company's stock valued at $299,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Barclays raised their price objective on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Citigroup increased 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. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Altria Group from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the company from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $53.43.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of MO traded up $0.76 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $51.92. 6,527,026 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,628,017. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $54.33 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $51.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.64. Altria Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $39.25 and a twelve month high of $58.03.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.03. The business 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 company's quarterly revenue was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.28 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.12 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th were given a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.86%. Altria Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.92%.

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.