Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Boosts Stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,190,556 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 49,922 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned about 0.13% of Altria Group worth $114,544,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp boosted 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 valued at $3,821,831,000 after purchasing an additional 3,910,738 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 59,805,286 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,127,218,000 after buying an additional 2,296,972 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Altria Group by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 41,938,507 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,193,687,000 after buying an additional 1,134,748 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 22,273,491 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,164,681,000 after acquiring an additional 76,004 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,488,007 shares of the company’s stock valued at $234,678,000 after acquiring an additional 93,121 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on MO shares. Bank of America upgraded Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $54.00.

Altria Group Trading Down 3.2 %

Shares of Altria Group stock opened at $56.05 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $55.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $53.78. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $40.65 and a 12-month high of $60.18. The stock has a market cap of $94.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.56, a PEG 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 the consensus estimate 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, analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 25th will be given a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 25th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.28%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.29%.

About Altria Group

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.