Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Shares Sold by Retirement Systems of Alabama

Retirement Systems of Alabama lessened its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 60.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 373,862 shares of the company’s stock after selling 576,102 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $19,082,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MO. State Street Corp raised its position in Altria Group by 5.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 73,481,686 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,821,831,000 after acquiring an additional 3,910,738 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 57,508,314 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,935,224,000 after purchasing an additional 589,832 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,803,759 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,079,919,000 after purchasing an additional 1,003,605 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,355,509 shares of the company’s stock worth $562,793,000 after purchasing an additional 191,236 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Altria Group by 25.0% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company’s stock valued at $295,055,000 after buying an additional 1,299,703 shares in the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MO has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays raised 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted 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. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target 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. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.33.

Altria Group Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:MO opened at $54.92 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $93.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.28, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.63. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $53.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $50.85. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.25 and a 12-month high of $58.03.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.33 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.28 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th will be issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.43%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 68.92%.

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.