Parkside Financial Bank & Trust Has $381,000 Stock Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Parkside Financial Bank & Trust trimmed its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 16.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,453 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,853 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $381,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its position in Altria Group by 34.6% in the 4th quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 276,585 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,157,000 after purchasing an additional 71,026 shares during the last quarter. Duality Advisers LP increased its position in Altria Group by 19.3% in the 4th quarter. Duality Advisers LP now owns 27,192 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,097,000 after purchasing an additional 4,395 shares during the last quarter. MCF Advisors LLC increased its position in Altria Group by 52.5% in the 4th quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 11,398 shares of the company’s stock worth $469,000 after purchasing an additional 3,925 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its position in Altria Group by 22.2% in the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 220,511 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,895,000 after purchasing an additional 40,075 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Management Corp VA increased its position in Altria Group by 82.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital Management Corp VA now owns 249,032 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,046,000 after purchasing an additional 112,229 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of MO traded down $0.01 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $42.86. The company had a trading volume of 2,549,437 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,823,550. The company’s 50-day moving average is $42.00 and its 200-day moving average is $41.44. Altria Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $39.06 and a twelve month high of $48.04. The company has a market capitalization of $73.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.65.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $5.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.06 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 244.55% and a net margin of 33.21%. The business’s revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.18 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 25th will be given a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.15%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 85.78%.

Altria Group declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, February 1st that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on MO shares. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Monday, March 25th. StockNews.com downgraded Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 14th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.90.

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.