GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. Sells 5,966 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. lowered its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 338,565 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,966 shares during the period. GW Henssler & Associates Ltd.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $17,280,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MO. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 420.0% during the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 572 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 462 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the third quarter valued at about $34,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the third quarter worth about $41,000. Fairman Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 85.1% in the third quarter. Fairman Group LLC now owns 892 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 410 shares during the period. Finally, Luken Investment Analytics LLC purchased a new position in Altria Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com raised Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Bank of America raised Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $55.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.29.

Altria Group Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of Altria Group stock opened at $52.20 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.46 billion, a PE ratio of 7.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.64. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $39.25 and a 12 month high of $58.03. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $53.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $52.35.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.01. Altria Group had a net margin of 46.90% and a negative return on equity of 258.72%. As a group, analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th were given a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 26th. Altria Group’s payout ratio is presently 62.29%.

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.