HighTower Advisors LLC Grows Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

HighTower Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) by 10.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,355,525 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 124,088 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC owned 0.08% of Altria Group worth $70,880,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Financial Life Planners purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 420.0% during the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 572 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 462 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Marshall Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Promus Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of MO opened at $57.83 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $97.77 billion, a PE ratio of 8.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.56. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $40.65 and a 12-month high of $59.67. The business's fifty day moving average price is $53.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $53.23.

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Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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, research analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 25th will be paid a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 25th. Altria Group's payout ratio is 62.29%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America upgraded Altria Group from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Two equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $53.29.

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.

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