Means Investment CO. Inc. Lowers Stock Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Means Investment CO. Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 29,501 shares of the company’s stock after selling 263 shares during the quarter. Means Investment CO. Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,543,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of MO. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 73,481,686 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,821,831,000 after acquiring an additional 3,910,738 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted 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 purchasing an additional 589,832 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Altria Group by 2.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,803,759 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,079,919,000 after purchasing an additional 1,003,605 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service lifted its position in shares of 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 last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 3,051,644 shares of the company’s stock valued at $155,786,000 after buying an additional 35,953 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Stock Up 1.3 %

Altria Group stock opened at $52.20 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $53.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $52.35. The company has a market capitalization of $88.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 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.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. Research analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th were paid a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.82%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.29%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective 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. StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Bank of America upgraded 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. Barclays increased their price target on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.29.

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.