Wealth Alliance Advisory Group LLC Lowers Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Wealth Alliance Advisory Group LLC lowered its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 2.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,998 shares of the company’s stock after selling 593 shares during the quarter. Wealth Alliance Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,255,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MO. State Street Corp boosted its position in Altria Group by 5.6% during 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 in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its position 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 in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew 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 during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Altria Group by 25.0% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company’s stock worth $295,055,000 after purchasing an additional 1,299,703 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 2.5% during 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. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Altria Group Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:MO opened at $51.92 on Friday. Altria Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $39.25 and a twelve month high of $58.03. The company has a market cap of $87.99 billion, a PE ratio of 8.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.64. The company’s 50 day moving average is $54.29 and its 200 day moving average is $51.95.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.33 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.82% and a negative return on equity of 233.80%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.28 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were issued 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 7.86%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.92%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MO. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com raised Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Altria Group in a report on Thursday. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $54.00 price target for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.43.

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.