New Age Alpha Advisors LLC Raises Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 57,156.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 186,655 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 186,329 shares during the quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $9,760,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Altria Group by 24.9% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 62,355 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,183,000 after buying an additional 12,444 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd raised its holdings in Altria Group by 1,035.7% in the 3rd quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 2,578 shares of the company’s stock worth $132,000 after purchasing an additional 2,351 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P raised its holdings in Altria Group by 71.0% in the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 16,641 shares of the company’s stock worth $849,000 after purchasing an additional 6,907 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC boosted its position in Altria Group by 20.6% during the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 74,589 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,807,000 after purchasing an additional 12,727 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its holdings in Altria Group by 7.7% in the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 635,775 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,450,000 after purchasing an additional 45,407 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Altria Group Trading Up 1.0 %

MO opened at $58.32 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $98.60 billion, a PE ratio of 8.90, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.56. Altria Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $40.65 and a twelve month high of $59.67. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $54.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $53.57.

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

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 25th will be issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 25th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.00%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.29%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley reduced 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. Bank of America upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average 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.