Sapient Capital LLC Sells 19,237 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Sapient Capital LLC lessened its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 25.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 55,303 shares of the company’s stock after selling 19,237 shares during the period. Sapient Capital LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $2,948,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MO. State Street Corp grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 3,910,738 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Altria Group by 3,786.6% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,743,443 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,985,000 after purchasing an additional 1,698,585 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Altria Group by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,803,759 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,079,919,000 after buying an additional 1,003,605 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service lifted its position in 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Price Performance

MO stock opened at $53.84 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $91.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $53.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $52.49. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $39.25 and a one year high of $58.03.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th were paid a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.58%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.29%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MO. Barclays lifted their target price on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley dropped 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 raised their target price on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Altria Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.29.

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.