Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Shares Bought by First Citizens Financial Corp

First Citizens Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 4.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,402 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the quarter. First Citizens Financial Corp’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $230,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in MO. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 30,588 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,599,000 after purchasing an additional 1,932 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 13.7% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,941 shares of the company’s stock worth $154,000 after buying an additional 354 shares during the period. IMS Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $328,000. DGS Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 111.8% during the 3rd quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 17,153 shares of the company’s stock worth $875,000 after buying an additional 9,054 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,159,890 shares of the company’s stock worth $107,679,000 after buying an additional 46,697 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.8 %

MO stock traded up $0.43 during trading on Friday, hitting $52.94. 1,618,948 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,485,623. The stock has a market capitalization of $89.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.63. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $54.53 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $51.50. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.25 and a 52 week high of $58.03.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.33 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 233.80% and a net margin of 42.82%. The firm’s revenue was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.28 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 26th will be given a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.71%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.92%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on MO shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays lifted 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. Bank of America upgraded Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Altria Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.33.

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.