Bangor Savings Bank Has $535,000 Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Bangor Savings Bank lowered its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 11.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 10,228 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,307 shares during the period. Bangor Savings Bank’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $535,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 5.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 73,481,686 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,821,831,000 after purchasing an additional 3,910,738 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 57,508,314 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,935,224,000 after buying an additional 589,832 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,803,759 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,079,919,000 after buying an additional 1,003,605 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 1.6% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,355,509 shares of the company’s stock valued at $562,793,000 after acquiring an additional 191,236 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 25.0% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company’s stock valued at $295,055,000 after acquiring an additional 1,299,703 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Stock Down 2.1 %

Shares of NYSE:MO opened at $52.02 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.16 billion, a PE ratio of 8.79, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $54.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $51.70. Altria Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $39.25 and a twelve month high of $58.03.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.33 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.82% and a negative return on equity of 233.80%. Altria Group’s revenue was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.28 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th will be issued 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 yield of 7.84%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.92%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on MO. Bank of America raised Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Two 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.33.

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.