Richard C. Young & CO. LTD. Acquires 6,462 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Richard C. Young & CO. LTD. grew its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 2.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 270,494 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,462 shares during the quarter. Richard C. Young & CO. LTD.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $14,144,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp increased its position in Altria Group by 5.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 73,481,686 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,821,831,000 after purchasing an additional 3,910,738 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Altria Group by 729.8% during the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,969,262 shares of the company’s stock valued at $100,511,000 after purchasing an additional 1,731,932 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Altria Group by 3,786.6% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,743,443 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,985,000 after purchasing an additional 1,698,585 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,803,759 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,079,919,000 after buying an additional 1,003,605 shares during the period. Finally, National Pension Service raised its stake in Altria Group by 19.9% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,034,414 shares of the company’s stock worth $205,916,000 after buying an additional 670,858 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MO. Bank of America upgraded Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $55.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays upped their price target on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.29.

Altria Group Price Performance

Altria Group stock opened at $52.65 on Friday. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.25 and a fifty-two week high of $58.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.24 billion, a PE ratio of 8.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.64. The company’s 50-day moving average is $53.09 and its 200-day moving average is $52.44.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, analysts expect 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 was paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th were paid a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.75%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 62.29%.

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.