Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Shares Sold by Fairman Group LLC

Fairman Group LLC lowered its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 43.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 502 shares of the company’s stock after selling 390 shares during the quarter. Fairman Group LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $27,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MO. Financial Life Planners acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. True Wealth Design LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 during the period. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Altria Group during the third quarter worth $34,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $41,000. Finally, Luken Investment Analytics LLC purchased a new position in Altria Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $47,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MO has been the subject of several research reports. 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 note on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Altria Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.29.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of MO stock opened at $53.90 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $91.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.23, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $53.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $52.52. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.25 and a 52 week high of $58.03.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.01. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 258.72% and a net margin of 46.90%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were given a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.57%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.