Graham Capital Management L.P. Takes Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Graham Capital Management L.P. bought a new stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 33,313 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,742,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MO. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Altria Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $137,536,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake 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 last quarter. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $91,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 9.6% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,432,535 shares of the company’s stock valued at $859,257,000 after acquiring an additional 1,444,021 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bridgewater Associates LP raised its position in Altria Group by 86.0% in the 4th quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 2,675,347 shares of the company’s stock worth $139,894,000 after purchasing an additional 1,236,782 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Altria Group from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. StockNews.com cut shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Altria Group from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $56.00.

Altria Group Stock Down 1.6%

Shares of MO stock opened at $59.46 on Monday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $43.83 and a 12-month high of $61.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.60. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $58.04 and a 200-day moving average of $55.29.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.04. Altria Group had a net margin of 46.90% and a negative return on equity of 258.72%. The company had revenue of $4.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.15 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 25th were paid a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.86%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 25th. Altria Group’s payout ratio is presently 68.34%.

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.