Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC Buys 67,117 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 14.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 524,653 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 67,117 shares during the quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $27,550,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Creative Planning boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 531,504 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,128,000 after purchasing an additional 24,039 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its stake in Altria Group by 4.9% in the third quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 67,010 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,420,000 after buying an additional 3,129 shares in the last quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC grew its position in Altria Group by 17.7% during the third quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 9,720 shares of the company’s stock valued at $496,000 after acquiring an additional 1,461 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its position in Altria Group by 1.7% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 222,925 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,378,000 after acquiring an additional 3,663 shares during the last quarter. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 34.7% during the third quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 16,451 shares of the company’s stock worth $840,000 after acquiring an additional 4,238 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on MO shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price 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. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on 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 boosted their target price on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Barclays raised their price target on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.29.

Altria Group Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of MO stock opened at $53.37 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $90.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.15, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.64. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $52.75 and a 200 day moving average of $52.57. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.25 and a 52 week high of $58.03.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.01. Altria Group had a net margin of 46.90% and a negative return on equity of 258.72%. Equities research 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 paid a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 26th. Altria Group’s payout ratio is presently 62.29%.

Altria Group 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.