Ballentine Partners LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Ballentine Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MOFree Report) by 33.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 21,416 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 5,317 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,120,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 5,836 shares of the company’s stock worth $305,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 115.3% in the 4th quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 35,854 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,875,000 after purchasing an additional 19,202 shares during the last quarter. Zhang Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Zhang Financial LLC now owns 18,717 shares of the company’s stock worth $979,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 91,765 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,798,000 after purchasing an additional 2,948 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 15,686 shares of the company’s stock worth $820,000 after purchasing an additional 926 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MO has been the topic of several research reports. Bank of America upgraded Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Altria Group in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $54.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target 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. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Altria Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.43.

Get Our Latest Report on Altria Group

Altria Group Trading Down 1.3 %

NYSE MO opened at $50.82 on Thursday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.25 and a 52 week high of $58.03. The stock has a market cap of $86.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $54.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $52.11.

Altria Group (NYSE:MOGet Free Report) last issued 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. The company had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.33 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 233.80% and a net margin of 42.82%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.28 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were issued a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.03%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 26th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.92%.

About Altria Group

(Free Report)

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.

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Altria Group (NYSE:MO)

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