Waddell & Associates LLC Takes $585,000 Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Waddell & Associates LLC purchased a new stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 11,184 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $585,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the 4th quarter valued at $137,536,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 59,805,286 shares of the company's stock worth $3,127,218,000 after buying an additional 2,296,972 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 136.4% during the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 2,022,121 shares of the company's stock worth $105,737,000 after buying an additional 1,166,701 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Altria Group by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 41,938,507 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,193,687,000 after buying an additional 1,134,748 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. grew its position in Altria Group by 49.3% in the fourth quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 3,317,662 shares of the company's stock valued at $173,481,000 after acquiring an additional 1,096,205 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MO. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Altria Group from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Morgan Stanley cut 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 research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $60.00 price target on shares of Altria Group in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $54.00.

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Altria Group Trading Up 0.5 %

MO traded up $0.30 during trading on Friday, reaching $56.68. 9,758,131 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,020,411. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $40.65 and a one year high of $60.18. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $56.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $54.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.83 billion, a PE ratio of 8.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.54.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.01. Altria Group had a net margin of 46.90% and a negative return on equity of 258.72%. Sell-side analysts expect 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. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 25th will be paid a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 25th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.20%. 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.