National Pension Service Buys 197,945 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

National Pension Service lifted its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 4.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 4,232,359 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 197,945 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $221,310,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. 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. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 1.0% in the 3rd 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 during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted 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 purchasing an additional 1,003,605 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its stake in Altria Group by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 3,414,856 shares of the company’s stock worth $178,563,000 after purchasing an additional 39,341 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can raised its holdings in Altria Group by 1.2% in the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 3,051,644 shares of the company’s stock worth $155,786,000 after purchasing 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 %

NYSE:MO opened at $55.99 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $94.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.55, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.64. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $52.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $52.82. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.25 and a 52 week high of $58.03.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 EPS 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, sell-side analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.29%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 26th. Altria Group’s payout ratio is presently 62.29%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Bank of America upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $55.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. 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. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.29.

Altria Group Company 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.