First National Bank & Trust Co. of Newtown Has $611,000 Stock Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

First National Bank & Trust Co. of Newtown trimmed its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 8.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 15,157 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,488 shares during the period. First National Bank & Trust Co. of Newtown’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $611,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Altria Group by 108,222.5% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 18,590,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $849,763,000 after buying an additional 18,573,146 shares during the period. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Altria Group by 84.1% during the 2nd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 5,426,522 shares of the company’s stock worth $245,823,000 after buying an additional 2,478,576 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Altria Group by 6.4% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 36,302,349 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,896,798,000 after buying an additional 2,178,596 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Altria Group by 54.1% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,710,670 shares of the company’s stock worth $198,084,000 after buying an additional 1,653,455 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in Altria Group by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 17,105,285 shares of the company’s stock worth $781,883,000 after buying an additional 1,531,337 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Altria Group Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE MO traded up $0.64 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $41.94. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,389,066 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,620,004. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.06 and a fifty-two week high of $48.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $72.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.14, a PEG ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.65. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.42.

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

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

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 25th will be paid a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.35%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 85.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, April 14th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a report on Monday, March 25th. One investment 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.90.

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.