Sage Capital Advisors llc Increases Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Sage Capital Advisors llc raised its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 116,167 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,989 shares during the period. Altria Group makes up 1.6% of Sage Capital Advisors llc’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Sage Capital Advisors llc’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $6,074,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 5.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 73,481,686 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,821,831,000 after purchasing an additional 3,910,738 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Altria Group by 729.8% during the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,969,262 shares of the company’s stock valued at $100,511,000 after acquiring an additional 1,731,932 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 3,786.6% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,743,443 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,985,000 after acquiring an additional 1,698,585 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Altria Group by 2.5% in 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 during the period. 57.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on MO. StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Bank of America upgraded Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target 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, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.33.

Altria Group Stock Down 1.2 %

NYSE MO traded down $0.62 on Friday, reaching $50.87. The company had a trading volume of 6,182,980 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,839,537. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $54.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $51.73. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $39.25 and a 12 month high of $58.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $86.22 billion, a PE ratio of 8.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.64.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 EPS 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 company had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.33 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.28 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.12 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 26th will be given a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.02%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.