Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Shares Sold by Means Investment CO. Inc.

Means Investment CO. Inc. lessened its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 1.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 29,764 shares of the company’s stock after selling 434 shares during the period. Means Investment CO. Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,519,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MO. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in Altria Group by 1.6% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,355,509 shares of the company’s stock valued at $562,793,000 after purchasing an additional 191,236 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in Altria Group by 120.6% during the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,762,047 shares of the company’s stock worth $382,201,000 after acquiring an additional 4,789,788 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 25.0% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company’s stock worth $295,055,000 after acquiring an additional 1,299,703 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Altria Group by 5.0% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,060,589 shares of the company’s stock valued at $230,510,000 after acquiring an additional 243,201 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 4.6% during the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 4,888,137 shares of the company’s stock valued at $222,655,000 after purchasing an additional 215,594 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Price Performance

NYSE MO opened at $49.61 on Friday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $39.06 and a 12 month high of $54.95. The company has a market capitalization of $85.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.65. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $51.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $47.79.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.04). Altria Group had a net margin of 42.25% and a negative return on equity of 232.55%. The company had revenue of $6.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.39 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.31 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $1.02 dividend. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.22%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 85.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on MO shares. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. UBS Group raised their target price on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. StockNews.com cut Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price objective on Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $48.20.

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.