Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Shares Acquired by Enterprise Financial Services Corp

Enterprise Financial Services Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 4.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,052 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 194 shares during the period. Enterprise Financial Services Corp’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $264,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 73,481,686 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,821,831,000 after acquiring an additional 3,910,738 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 59,805,286 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,127,218,000 after acquiring an additional 2,296,972 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,803,759 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,079,919,000 after purchasing an additional 1,003,605 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,488,007 shares of the company’s stock worth $234,678,000 after purchasing an additional 93,121 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,232,359 shares of the company’s stock worth $221,310,000 after purchasing an additional 197,945 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Trading Up 1.4 %

NYSE:MO opened at $57.79 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $97.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.82, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.56. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $53.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $53.10. Altria Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $40.65 and a twelve month high of $58.59.

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

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 25th will be given a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.06%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 25th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.29%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MO. Bank of America raised shares of Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.29.

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.