Private Advisor Group LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Private Advisor Group LLC raised its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) by 3.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 181,325 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 5,958 shares during the quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC's holdings in Altria Group were worth $9,481,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 5.6% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position 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 grew 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 purchasing an additional 1,003,605 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service raised its stake in Altria Group by 19.9% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,034,414 shares of the company's stock valued at $205,916,000 after purchasing an additional 670,858 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 3,414,856 shares of the company's stock worth $178,563,000 after purchasing an additional 39,341 shares in the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of 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 raised their target price for the company from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Altria Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Altria Group has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $53.29.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MO traded up $0.68 on Friday, reaching $55.01. The company's stock had a trading volume of 8,815,909 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,319,094. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $52.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $52.66. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $39.25 and a 52-week high of $58.03. The company has a market cap of $93.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.40, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.64.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.01. Altria Group had a net margin of 46.90% and a negative return on equity of 258.72%. On average, equities research analysts forecast 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 was paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were issued a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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.