CoreFirst Bank & Trust Purchases New Shares in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

CoreFirst Bank & Trust acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 15,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $792,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 49.3% in the 4th quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 3,317,662 shares of the company’s stock valued at $173,481,000 after acquiring an additional 1,096,205 shares in the last quarter. ICW Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Altria Group by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. ICW Investment Advisors LLC now owns 21,205 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,109,000 after purchasing an additional 998 shares during the period. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 25,568 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,337,000 after purchasing an additional 748 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 11.9% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 3,128,789 shares of the company’s stock worth $163,604,000 after buying an additional 331,747 shares during the period. Finally, Samalin Investment Counsel LLC grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC now owns 14,270 shares of the company’s stock valued at $746,000 after buying an additional 303 shares in the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of Altria Group stock opened at $57.62 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $54.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $53.48. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $40.65 and a 52-week high of $59.67. The firm has a market cap of $97.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.56.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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, equities research analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 25th will be issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 25th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.08%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 62.29%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.29.

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.