Wealth Effects LLC Boosts Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Wealth Effects LLC boosted its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 12,675 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 325 shares during the period. Wealth Effects LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $663,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp grew its position in Altria Group by 5.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 73,481,686 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,821,831,000 after buying an additional 3,910,738 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 57,508,314 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,935,224,000 after acquiring an additional 589,832 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position 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 valued at $2,079,919,000 after acquiring an additional 1,003,605 shares during the period. National Pension Service increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 19.9% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,034,414 shares of the company’s stock worth $205,916,000 after purchasing an additional 670,858 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can raised its holdings in Altria Group by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 3,051,644 shares of the company’s stock worth $155,786,000 after purchasing an additional 35,953 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Barclays upped their price target on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup lifted 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. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.43.

Altria Group Stock Up 2.5 %

Shares of MO stock opened at $53.36 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $90.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.01, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.64. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.25 and a 52 week high of $58.03. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $53.94 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $52.21.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.33 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.82% and a negative return on equity of 233.80%. The business’s revenue was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.28 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th were paid a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.65%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 26th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.92%.

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.