Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. Decreases Stock Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. decreased its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 5.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 32,182 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,921 shares during the period. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,643,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MO. Delta Investment Management LLC grew its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 198 shares during the period. Scarborough Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 18.5% in the second quarter. Scarborough Advisors LLC now owns 1,283 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. American Institute for Advanced Investment Management LLP lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. American Institute for Advanced Investment Management LLP now owns 5,860 shares of the company’s stock valued at $299,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Zhang Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Zhang Financial LLC now owns 18,454 shares of the company’s stock valued at $942,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hollencrest Capital Management grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 0.3% during the second quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 76,595 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,489,000 after buying an additional 203 shares in the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MO. UBS Group boosted their target price on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Barclays raised their target price on Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Finally, 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 report on Tuesday, October 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $48.20.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of MO stock opened at $49.96 on Wednesday. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.25 and a fifty-two week high of $54.95. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $51.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $48.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $85.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.65.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.04). Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 232.55% and a net margin of 42.25%. The business had revenue of $6.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.39 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.31 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.17%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 85.36%.

Altria Group 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.