Truist Financial Corp Increases Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Truist Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) by 16.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,823,309 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 405,235 shares during the quarter. Truist Financial Corp owned 0.17% of Altria Group worth $169,455,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Redwood Park Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in Altria Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Altria Group during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Promus Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Pinney & Scofield Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company's stock.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MO traded up $0.45 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $59.62. 4,776,064 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,581,112. The stock has a market capitalization of $100.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 0.59. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $59.28 and a 200 day moving average of $56.43. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $45.87 and a 1 year high of $61.26.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $4.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.64 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 295.44% and a net margin of 43.09%. Altria Group's quarterly revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.15 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.84%. Altria Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MO. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Citigroup increased their price target on Altria Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group raised Altria Group from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $47.00 to $59.00 in a report on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $60.00 target price on Altria Group in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Altria Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Altria Group currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $57.71.

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.