Versant Capital Management Inc Purchases 354 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 13.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,941 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 354 shares during the quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $154,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MO. Founders Financial Securities LLC bought a new position in Altria Group in the 2nd quarter worth about $217,000. Simon Quick Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 41.4% in the second quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 6,588 shares of the company’s stock valued at $300,000 after acquiring an additional 1,929 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Altria Group by 94.7% during the second quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 9,136 shares of the company’s stock valued at $416,000 after acquiring an additional 4,444 shares in the last quarter. FineMark National Bank & Trust grew its stake in Altria Group by 57.2% during the second quarter. FineMark National Bank & Trust now owns 57,072 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,600,000 after acquiring an additional 20,772 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in Altria Group by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,023,472 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,619,000 after acquiring an additional 37,240 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America upgraded Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. UBS Group raised their price target on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Altria Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.33.

Altria Group Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $53.14 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $54.53 and its 200 day moving average is $51.50. The stock has a market cap of $90.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.98, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.63. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $39.25 and a 1-year high of $58.03.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced 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. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.82% and a negative return on equity of 233.80%. The firm had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.33 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.28 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th will be paid a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.68%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.