Hall Capital Management Co. Inc. Purchases New Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Hall Capital Management Co. Inc. purchased a new position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 6,025 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $315,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Financial Life Planners purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Redwood Park Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Altria Group in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Altria Group in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Marshall Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Altria Group in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Promus Capital LLC purchased a new position in Altria Group during the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on MO shares. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Altria Group from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Wall Street Zen cut Altria Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Altria Group from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $56.00.

Altria Group Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of MO traded down $0.03 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $59.46. 2,354,862 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,632,489. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $43.83 and a 52-week high of $61.26. The company has a market cap of $100.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.60. The company's 50-day moving average price is $58.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $55.80.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.04. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 258.72% and a net margin of 46.90%. The firm had revenue of $4.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.15 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Altria Group's dividend payout ratio is presently 68.34%.

About Altria Group

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.