Silver Coast Investments LLC Has $423,000 Stock Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Key Points

• Silver Coast Investments LLC has reduced its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE: MO) by 37.2%, now owning 7,041 shares worth approximately $423,000.
• Several institutional investors have increased their stakes in Altria Group, with Northern Trust Corp leading with a 9.6% increase, bringing its total shares to over 16 million.
• Altria Group recently reported an EPS of $1.44 for the last quarter, beating estimates, while also declaring a quarterly dividend of $1.02 per share, reflecting a 6.6% yield.

Silver Coast Investments LLC lowered its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) by 37.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,041 shares of the company's stock after selling 4,174 shares during the quarter. Silver Coast Investments LLC's holdings in Altria Group were worth $423,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MO. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 6,969.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,162,401 shares of the company's stock worth $129,787,000 after acquiring an additional 2,131,813 shares in the last quarter. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the 4th quarter worth about $91,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Altria Group by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,432,535 shares of the company's stock valued at $859,257,000 after buying an additional 1,444,021 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 17.4% in the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 8,927,340 shares of the company's stock worth $466,811,000 after purchasing an additional 1,323,421 shares during the period. Finally, Bridgewater Associates LP grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 86.0% during the 4th quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 2,675,347 shares of the company's stock valued at $139,894,000 after buying an additional 1,236,782 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company's stock.

Altria Group Stock Up 1.0%

MO stock traded up $0.61 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $63.13. 6,431,230 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,834,736. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $59.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $57.58. The company has a market cap of $106.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.21, a PEG ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 0.59. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $48.86 and a 1-year high of $63.76.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $5.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.21 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 37.24% and a negative return on equity of 295.26%. Altria Group's revenue for the quarter was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.31 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 10th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Altria Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 78.92%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Altria Group from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Altria Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group upgraded Altria Group from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their target price for the company from $47.00 to $59.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Altria Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $59.13.

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.