Blair William & Co. IL Has $9.59 Million Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Blair William & Co. IL cut its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund 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.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MO. State Street Corp grew its stake in Altria Group by 5.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 73,481,686 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,821,831,000 after purchasing an additional 3,910,738 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $137,536,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Altria Group by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 59,805,286 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,127,218,000 after buying an additional 2,296,972 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its position in Altria Group by 136.4% during the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 2,022,121 shares of the company’s stock valued at $105,737,000 after acquiring an additional 1,166,701 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Altria Group by 49.3% in the fourth quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 3,317,662 shares of the company’s stock valued at $173,481,000 after acquiring an additional 1,096,205 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on MO. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America upgraded Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $55.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.29.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MO opened at $58.17 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $55.07 and its 200-day moving average is $53.59. The company has a market cap of $98.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.56. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $40.65 and a 52-week high of $59.67.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its 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 negative return on equity of 258.72% and a net margin of 46.90%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

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

About Altria Group

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.