Blueprint Investment Partners LLC Grows Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Blueprint Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) by 115.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,115 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 7,030 shares during the period. Blueprint Investment Partners LLC's holdings in Altria Group were worth $686,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp raised its position 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 during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 4.0% in 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 purchasing an additional 2,296,972 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 2.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,803,759 shares of the company's stock worth $2,079,919,000 after buying an additional 1,003,605 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Altria Group by 2.1% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service grew its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 197,945 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on MO shares. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price 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. Bank of America upgraded Altria Group from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $53.29.

Altria Group Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE MO traded up $0.10 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $56.73. The company had a trading volume of 10,358,633 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,542,338. The business's 50-day moving average is $54.56 and its 200-day moving average is $53.48. The stock has a market cap of $95.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.66, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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, equities research analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 25th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.19%. Altria Group's 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.