Legal & General Group Plc Sells 3,378,862 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Legal & General Group Plc lessened its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) by 29.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,263,689 shares of the company's stock after selling 3,378,862 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.49% of Altria Group worth $432,108,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 59,805,286 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,127,218,000 after acquiring an additional 2,296,972 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Altria Group by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 41,938,507 shares of the company's stock worth $2,193,687,000 after purchasing an additional 1,134,748 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 22,273,491 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,164,681,000 after purchasing an additional 76,004 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,801,958 shares of the company's stock worth $617,124,000 after purchasing an additional 983,328 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,488,007 shares of the company's stock worth $234,678,000 after purchasing an additional 93,121 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company's stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

MO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $60.00 target price on Altria Group in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $54.00.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of MO stock traded up $0.31 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $56.69. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,808,966 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,011,369. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $40.65 and a fifty-two week high of $60.18. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $56.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $54.00. The company has a market capitalization of $95.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.65, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.54.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.01. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 258.72% and a net margin of 46.90%. Sell-side analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 25th. Altria Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.29%.

Altria Group Profile

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.