American Century Companies Inc. Has $1.40 Million Stock Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

American Century Companies Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) by 38.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 26,692 shares of the company's stock after selling 16,984 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.'s holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,396,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MO. Plancorp LLC increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 10.1% in the fourth quarter. Plancorp LLC now owns 7,657 shares of the company's stock valued at $400,000 after purchasing an additional 701 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 45.2% during the fourth quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 160,630 shares of the company's stock worth $8,399,000 after acquiring an additional 49,990 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 41,834 shares of the company's stock worth $2,187,000 after acquiring an additional 1,848 shares during the last quarter. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group during the fourth quarter valued at $83,000. Finally, Wayfinding Financial LLC bought a new position in Altria Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $346,000. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on MO. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Altria Group from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $60.00 price target on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $54.00.

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Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of Altria Group stock traded up $0.30 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $56.68. The company's stock had a trading volume of 9,758,131 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,020,411. The company has a market capitalization of $95.83 billion, a PE ratio of 8.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.54. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $56.22 and a 200 day moving average of $54.06. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $40.65 and a 12 month high of $60.18.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 25th will be issued 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 dividend yield of 7.20%. Altria Group's payout ratio is presently 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.