Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Stock Holdings Trimmed by Blair William & Co. IL

Blair William & Co. IL lessened its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 183,443 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,671 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $9,592,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MO. NEOS Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Altria Group by 31.6% during the 4th quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 108,383 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,667,000 after buying an additional 26,033 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 1,619,963 shares of the company’s stock valued at $84,708,000 after acquiring an additional 66,197 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Altria Group by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,683,295 shares of the company’s stock worth $142,590,000 after purchasing an additional 177,051 shares in the last quarter. Korea Investment CORP lifted its position in Altria Group by 9.3% in the fourth quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 806,429 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,168,000 after purchasing an additional 68,581 shares during the period. Finally, Tyler Stone Wealth Management boosted its stake in Altria Group by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Tyler Stone Wealth Management now owns 78,986 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,130,000 after purchasing an additional 6,282 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MO. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America raised shares of Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $55.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Altria Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.29.

Altria Group Trading Down 0.2 %

NYSE MO opened at $58.17 on Friday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $40.65 and a 1 year high of $59.67. The company has a market cap of $98.35 billion, a PE ratio of 8.88, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.56. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $55.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $53.59.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.01. Altria Group had a net margin of 46.90% and a negative return on equity of 258.72%. Research analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 25th will be issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 25th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.01%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is 62.29%.

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.