Uniting Wealth Partners LLC Acquires Shares of 8,174 Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Uniting Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 8,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $427,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. 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 worth $3,821,831,000 after purchasing an additional 3,910,738 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 2,296,972 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 41,938,507 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,193,687,000 after buying an additional 1,134,748 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 22,273,491 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,164,681,000 after acquiring an additional 76,004 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Altria Group by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,488,007 shares of the company’s stock valued at $234,678,000 after acquiring an additional 93,121 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on MO shares. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday. Bank of America upgraded Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on 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. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $54.00.

Altria Group Price Performance

Altria Group stock opened at $57.21 on Thursday. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $40.65 and a one year high of $60.18. The business’s fifty day moving average is $55.51 and its 200 day moving average is $53.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $96.72 billion, a PE ratio of 8.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.56.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 25th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.29%.

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.