Global Retirement Partners LLC Sells 36,250 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Global Retirement Partners LLC lessened its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 32.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 75,988 shares of the company’s stock after selling 36,250 shares during the quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $3,973,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MO. State Street Corp lifted its position in Altria Group by 5.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 73,481,686 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,821,831,000 after purchasing an additional 3,910,738 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Altria Group by 729.8% during the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,969,262 shares of the company’s stock worth $100,511,000 after purchasing an additional 1,731,932 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in Altria Group by 3,786.6% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,743,443 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,985,000 after purchasing an additional 1,698,585 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Altria Group by 2.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,803,759 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,079,919,000 after purchasing an additional 1,003,605 shares during the period. Finally, National Pension Service lifted its position in Altria Group by 19.9% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,034,414 shares of the company’s stock worth $205,916,000 after purchasing an additional 670,858 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased 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. StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Barclays upped their price objective on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.29.

Altria Group Stock Performance

NYSE:MO opened at $53.37 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $90.45 billion, a PE ratio of 8.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $52.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $52.65. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.25 and a fifty-two week high of $58.03.

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 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%. Research analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. 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 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.