Windle Wealth LLC Lowers Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Windle Wealth LLC cut its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 145,180 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,547 shares during the quarter. Altria Group accounts for about 4.0% of Windle Wealth LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Windle Wealth LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $7,410,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 1.6% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,355,509 shares of the company’s stock valued at $562,793,000 after acquiring an additional 191,236 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 25.0% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company’s stock valued at $295,055,000 after acquiring an additional 1,299,703 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 5.0% during the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,060,589 shares of the company’s stock valued at $230,510,000 after acquiring an additional 243,201 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 4.6% during the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 4,888,137 shares of the company’s stock valued at $222,655,000 after acquiring an additional 215,594 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 19.9% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,034,414 shares of the company’s stock valued at $205,916,000 after acquiring an additional 670,858 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MO has been the subject of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America cut their price target on Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Citigroup raised their price target on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, StockNews.com raised Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Altria Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.33.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.7 %

NYSE MO opened at $56.34 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $51.63 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $49.38. Altria Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $39.25 and a twelve month high of $56.55. The company has a market capitalization of $95.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.52, a PEG ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.64.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.03. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 233.80% and a net margin of 42.82%. The business had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.33 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.28 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $1.02 per share. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.24%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.92%.

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.