First Merchants Corp Purchases 10,058 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

First Merchants Corp lifted its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 56.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,983 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,058 shares during the quarter. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,463,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Altria Group by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,159,890 shares of the company’s stock worth $107,679,000 after purchasing an additional 46,697 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 367,469 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,215,000 after buying an additional 19,893 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 240,454 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,573,000 after acquiring an additional 12,011 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 2.3% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 1,456,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,330,000 after acquiring an additional 32,318 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 1.0% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 57,508,314 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,935,224,000 after acquiring an additional 589,832 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.7 %

NYSE:MO opened at $53.71 on Friday. Altria Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $39.25 and a twelve month high of $58.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $91.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.64. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $52.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $52.55.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.01. Altria Group had a net margin of 46.90% and a negative return on equity of 258.72%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were issued a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.60%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 62.29%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America raised 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 report on Friday, December 6th. Barclays lifted their target price on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two research 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 MarketBeat, Altria Group presently 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.