Cortland Associates Inc. MO Grows Stock Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Cortland Associates Inc. MO increased its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 18,046 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 315 shares during the quarter. Cortland Associates Inc. MO’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $944,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Algert Global LLC grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 32.0% in the second quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 9,600 shares of the company’s stock worth $437,000 after acquiring an additional 2,330 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 2.1% during the second quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 38,045 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,733,000 after purchasing an additional 768 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 1.8% during the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 1,001,756 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,630,000 after purchasing an additional 17,471 shares in the last quarter. Souders Financial Advisors acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group during the second quarter worth $207,000. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group during the second quarter worth $206,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on MO shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $54.00 price objective for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.43.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.4 %

NYSE MO opened at $52.81 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $89.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.64. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $39.25 and a 52-week high of $58.03. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $53.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $52.29.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.03. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.82% and a negative return on equity of 233.80%. The company had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.33 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.28 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were given a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.73%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is currently 68.92%.

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.