First Financial Bank Trust Division Sells 528 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

First Financial Bank Trust Division reduced its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 7.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,789 shares of the company’s stock after selling 528 shares during the period. First Financial Bank Trust Division’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $309,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MO. Patten & Patten Inc. TN increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Patten & Patten Inc. TN now owns 14,293 shares of the company’s stock worth $623,000 after acquiring an additional 224 shares during the last quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 12.1% in the first quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 2,150 shares of the company’s stock worth $95,000 after purchasing an additional 232 shares during the last quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 7.0% during the first quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,767 shares of the company’s stock worth $168,000 after buying an additional 247 shares during the period. Triumph Capital Management raised its stake in Altria Group by 1.6% during the first quarter. Triumph Capital Management now owns 15,696 shares of the company’s stock worth $678,000 after buying an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Carson Advisory Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 4.2% during the 1st quarter. Carson Advisory Inc. now owns 6,343 shares of the company’s stock worth $277,000 after buying an additional 254 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. StockNews.com raised Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $47.90.

Altria Group Stock Performance

NYSE MO traded down $1.72 during trading on Monday, reaching $49.35. 14,332,518 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,769,650. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $47.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $44.02. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $39.06 and a 1 year high of $51.40. The stock has a market cap of $84.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.66.

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

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.94%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 82.01%.

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.