Wedgewood Investors Inc. PA Sells 500 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Wedgewood Investors Inc. PA lowered its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 25,260 shares of the company’s stock after selling 500 shares during the quarter. Altria Group accounts for approximately 1.6% of Wedgewood Investors Inc. PA’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Wedgewood Investors Inc. PA’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,321,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Altria Group by 2.2% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,159,890 shares of the company’s stock valued at $107,679,000 after acquiring an additional 46,697 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank lifted its stake in Altria Group by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 367,469 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,215,000 after purchasing an additional 19,893 shares during the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 240,454 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,573,000 after purchasing an additional 12,011 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 1,456,308 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,330,000 after purchasing an additional 32,318 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 589,832 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on MO. StockNews.com raised Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. 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 note on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays raised 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.29.

Altria Group Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of Altria Group stock opened at $53.37 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $52.75 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $52.57. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.25 and a 12-month high of $58.03. The firm has a market cap of $90.44 billion, a PE ratio of 8.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.64.

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

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

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