Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 3.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 147,236 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,536 shares during the quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $7,699,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MO. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in 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. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 41,938,507 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,193,687,000 after purchasing an additional 1,134,748 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 22,273,491 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,164,681,000 after purchasing an additional 76,004 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 9.6% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,432,535 shares of the company’s stock worth $859,257,000 after purchasing an additional 1,444,021 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target 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. Barclays boosted their target price on Altria Group from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Altria Group from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Citigroup raised their target price on Altria Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $60.00 price target on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.00.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $59.74 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $100.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.60. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $58.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $55.71. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $43.83 and a 1-year high of $61.26.

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

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.34%.

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.