Philadelphia Trust Co. Reduces Stock Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Philadelphia Trust Co. reduced its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 2.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,337 shares of the company’s stock after selling 550 shares during the quarter. Philadelphia Trust Co.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $907,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Altria Group by 108,222.5% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 18,590,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $849,763,000 after acquiring an additional 18,573,146 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Altria Group by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 44,066,327 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,000,861,000 after acquiring an additional 3,516,646 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Altria Group by 8.3% during the 1st quarter. FMR LLC now owns 25,132,929 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,121,431,000 after acquiring an additional 1,926,492 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in Altria Group by 32.6% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 7,209,557 shares of the company’s stock worth $329,550,000 after acquiring an additional 1,774,297 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in Altria Group by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 17,105,285 shares of the company’s stock worth $781,883,000 after acquiring an additional 1,531,337 shares during the period. 58.94% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Altria Group from $56.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 22nd. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Altria Group in a report on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.50.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of MO stock traded down $0.11 on Friday, hitting $44.11. 6,659,933 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,668,368. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $40.35 and a one year high of $51.57. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $44.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $45.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $78.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.59.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 1st. The company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.31. Altria Group had a net margin of 27.40% and a negative return on equity of 225.61%. The company had revenue of $5.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.43 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.26 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 10th. Investors of record on Friday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 14th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.89%. This is a positive change from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 102.89%.

About Altria Group

Altria Group, Inc, through its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells smokeable and oral tobacco products in the United States. The company provides cigarettes primarily under the Marlboro brand; cigars and pipe tobacco principally under the Black & Mild brand; moist smokeless tobacco products and snus products under the Copenhagen, Skoal, Red Seal, and Husky brands; and on! oral nicotine pouches.