New York State Common Retirement Fund Has $124.34 Million Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

New York State Common Retirement Fund cut its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,377,800 shares of the company's stock after selling 59,100 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned approximately 0.14% of Altria Group worth $124,335,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp raised its position in Altria Group by 5.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 73,481,686 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,821,831,000 after buying an additional 3,910,738 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Altria Group by 1.0% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 57,508,314 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,935,224,000 after buying an additional 589,832 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Altria Group by 2.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,803,759 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,079,919,000 after buying an additional 1,003,605 shares during the period. National Pension Service raised its position in Altria Group by 19.9% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,034,414 shares of the company's stock valued at $205,916,000 after buying an additional 670,858 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its position in Altria Group by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 3,414,856 shares of the company's stock valued at $178,563,000 after buying an additional 39,341 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on MO. Bank of America raised Altria Group from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the company from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com raised Altria Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Barclays upped their target price on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $53.29.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of MO traded up $0.68 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $55.01. 8,815,909 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,319,094. The company has a market cap of $93.22 billion, a PE ratio of 8.40, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.64. The firm's 50 day moving average is $52.61 and its 200-day moving average is $52.66. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.25 and a 52 week high of $58.03.

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, 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%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th were paid a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.42%. Altria Group's payout ratio is 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.