Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Shares Bought by Truist Financial Corp

Truist Financial Corp grew its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) by 27.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,418,074 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 523,146 shares during the quarter. Truist Financial Corp owned about 0.14% of Altria Group worth $126,441,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MO. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Altria Group by 5.6% during the 3rd 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 1.0% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 57,508,314 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,935,224,000 after acquiring an additional 589,832 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 1,003,605 shares during the period. National Pension Service raised its holdings in Altria Group by 19.9% during the third 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, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in Altria Group by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 3,414,856 shares of the company's stock valued at $178,563,000 after purchasing an additional 39,341 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley cut 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. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America raised shares of 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. Barclays raised their price objective on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Altria Group presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $53.29.

Altria Group Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:MO traded up $0.69 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $53.44. The stock had a trading volume of 4,378,957 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,212,157. The stock has a market cap of $90.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.16, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.64. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $52.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $52.65. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.25 and a fifty-two week high of $58.03.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were issued a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.64%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 26th. Altria Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.