Berkshire Bank Decreases Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Berkshire Bank lowered its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 6.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,550 shares of the company’s stock after selling 300 shares during the period. Berkshire Bank’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $238,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Altria Group by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 73,481,686 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,821,831,000 after purchasing an additional 3,910,738 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 729.8% in the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,969,262 shares of the company’s stock worth $100,511,000 after buying an additional 1,731,932 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Altria Group by 3,786.6% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,743,443 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,985,000 after acquiring an additional 1,698,585 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Altria Group by 2.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,803,759 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,079,919,000 after acquiring an additional 1,003,605 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service grew its stake in Altria Group by 19.9% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,034,414 shares of the company’s stock valued at $205,916,000 after acquiring an additional 670,858 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays boosted their target price on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America raised shares of Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $55.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.43.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of MO stock opened at $53.36 on Tuesday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $39.25 and a 1-year high of $58.03. The firm has a market cap of $90.43 billion, a PE ratio of 9.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a 50-day moving average of $53.94 and a two-hundred day moving average of $52.21.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $5.33 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.82% and a negative return on equity of 233.80%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.28 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th were issued a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.65%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.92%.

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.