Great Lakes Advisors LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Great Lakes Advisors LLC reduced its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 4.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 12,792 shares of the company’s stock after selling 657 shares during the quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $669,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 2.2% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,159,890 shares of the company’s stock valued at $107,679,000 after acquiring an additional 46,697 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank raised its stake in Altria Group by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 367,469 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,215,000 after buying an additional 19,893 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 240,454 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,573,000 after acquiring an additional 12,011 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 57,508,314 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,935,224,000 after buying an additional 589,832 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Altria Group by 8.3% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 706,967 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,084,000 after acquiring an additional 54,102 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Altria Group Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of MO opened at $58.97 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $99.70 billion, a PE ratio of 9.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.56. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $53.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $53.31. Altria Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $40.65 and a twelve month high of $59.67.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.01. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 258.72% and a net margin of 46.90%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

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 dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 25th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.92%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.29%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MO. Bank of America raised shares of Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Altria Group has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.29.

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.