GLOBALT Investments LLC GA Cuts Stock Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

GLOBALT Investments LLC GA decreased its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) by 34.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 71,190 shares of the company's stock after selling 37,773 shares during the quarter. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA's holdings in Altria Group were worth $3,634,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CWM LLC lifted its position in Altria Group by 15.3% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 305,704 shares of the company's stock valued at $15,603,000 after acquiring an additional 40,574 shares in the last quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 251,933 shares of the company's stock worth $11,476,000 after buying an additional 10,079 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 1,456,308 shares of the company's stock worth $74,330,000 after buying an additional 32,318 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 729.8% during the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,969,262 shares of the company's stock worth $100,511,000 after buying an additional 1,731,932 shares in the last quarter. Finally, White Lighthouse Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Altria Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $483,000. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. 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. StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $51.33.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.3 %

Altria Group stock traded up $0.14 during trading on Monday, hitting $56.07. The stock had a trading volume of 3,414,864 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,750,714. The stock's 50 day moving average is $51.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $49.29. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $39.25 and a 1 year high of $56.55. The stock has a market cap of $95.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.64.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.33 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.82% and a negative return on equity of 233.80%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.28 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This is a boost from Altria Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Altria Group's dividend payout ratio is currently 68.92%.

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.