Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Increases Stock Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 126,639 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 3,617 shares during the quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $6,622,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. RiverFront Investment Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $216,000. Vertex Planning Partners LLC purchased a new position in Altria Group in the fourth quarter worth $201,000. Slagle Financial LLC grew its stake in Altria Group by 7.7% in the 4th quarter. Slagle Financial LLC now owns 71,330 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,730,000 after purchasing an additional 5,104 shares during the period. denkapparat Operations GmbH purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the 4th quarter valued at $526,000. Finally, Premier Fund Managers Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the 4th quarter worth $4,948,000. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MO has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank of America raised Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. 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.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.29.

Altria Group Price Performance

NYSE MO opened at $58.17 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $55.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $53.59. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $40.65 and a 1 year high of $59.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $98.35 billion, a PE ratio of 8.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.56.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 earnings per share (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%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 25th will be issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 25th. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 62.29%.

Altria Group 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.