Contrarius Group Holdings Ltd Purchases New Shares in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Contrarius Group Holdings Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 51,251 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,680,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MO. Financial Life Planners bought a new position in Altria Group in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 420.0% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 572 shares of the company's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 462 shares in the last quarter. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Marshall Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Promus Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on MO. Bank of America raised Altria Group from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Altria Group presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $53.29.

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Altria Group Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of Altria Group stock traded up $0.02 on Monday, hitting $57.62. The stock had a trading volume of 11,946,626 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,547,473. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $54.56 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $53.48. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $40.65 and a one year high of $59.67. The stock has a market cap of $97.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.80, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.56.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 25th will be given a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.08%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 25th. 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.