Foster Group Inc. Increases Stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Foster Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 4.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 10,245 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 456 shares during the quarter. Foster Group Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $536,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of MO. State Street Corp lifted its stake in 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 buying an additional 3,910,738 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake 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 worth $2,935,224,000 after acquiring an additional 589,832 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position 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 valued at $2,079,919,000 after buying an additional 1,003,605 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service boosted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 670,858 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 1.2% in the third 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Bank of America upgraded Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on Altria Group in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $54.00 price target on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Altria Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.43.

Altria Group Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE:MO opened at $52.54 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $89.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.64. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $53.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $52.26. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $39.25 and a 12 month high of $58.03.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.33 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.28 earnings per share. Altria Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were given a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 26th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is 68.92%.

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.