Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 20.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 125,871 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,281 shares during the period. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $6,582,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,159,890 shares of the company’s stock worth $107,679,000 after buying an additional 46,697 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank lifted its stake in Altria Group by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 367,469 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,215,000 after acquiring an additional 19,893 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 240,454 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,573,000 after acquiring an additional 12,011 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Altria Group by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 57,508,314 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,935,224,000 after purchasing an additional 589,832 shares during the period. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Altria Group by 729.8% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America raised 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on 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. 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.29.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $55.95 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $52.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $53.01. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $40.65 and a fifty-two week high of $58.59. The company has a market capitalization of $94.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.64.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 negative return on equity of 258.72% and a net margin of 46.90%. On average, analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 25th will be paid a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.29%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 25th. 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.