Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 2.6% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 17,418 shares of the company’s stock after selling 456 shares during the quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $907,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Altria Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. BNP Paribas purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the second quarter valued at about $30,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 63.9% during the second quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 667 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the period. Finally, Riverview Trust Co purchased a new position in Altria Group during the first quarter worth about $36,000. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Barclays upped their price objective on Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $48.20.

Altria Group Stock Performance

MO opened at $49.61 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $85.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.38, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.65. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $39.06 and a one year high of $54.95. The business’s fifty day moving average is $51.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $47.83.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $6.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.39 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.25% and a negative return on equity of 232.55%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.31 earnings per share. Altria Group’s revenue was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.22%. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 85.36%.

Altria Group Company 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.