Rhumbline Advisers Sells 23,212 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Rhumbline Advisers cut its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 0.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,878,832 shares of the company’s stock after selling 23,212 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers’ holdings in Altria Group were worth $150,534,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MO. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 73,481,686 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,821,831,000 after buying an additional 3,910,738 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $100,511,000 after buying an additional 1,731,932 shares in the last quarter. 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 worth $88,985,000 after buying an additional 1,698,585 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,803,759 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,079,919,000 after buying an additional 1,003,605 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 19.9% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,034,414 shares of the company’s stock worth $205,916,000 after buying an additional 670,858 shares in the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on MO. Barclays increased their price target on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Two 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. According to MarketBeat, Altria Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.29.

Altria Group Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE MO opened at $53.37 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $90.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.15, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.64. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $52.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $52.57. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $39.25 and a 12 month high of $58.03.

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

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were given a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 26th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio 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.