Perpetual Ltd Sells 6,492 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Perpetual Ltd reduced its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 13.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 42,742 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,492 shares during the quarter. Perpetual Ltd’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $2,182,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in Altria Group by 1.6% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,355,509 shares of the company’s stock valued at $562,793,000 after acquiring an additional 191,236 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in Altria Group by 120.6% in the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,762,047 shares of the company’s stock valued at $382,201,000 after buying an additional 4,789,788 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 25.0% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company’s stock worth $295,055,000 after buying an additional 1,299,703 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,060,589 shares of the company’s stock valued at $230,510,000 after acquiring an additional 243,201 shares during the period. Finally, LSV Asset Management boosted its stake in Altria Group by 4.6% during the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 4,888,137 shares of the company’s stock worth $222,655,000 after acquiring an additional 215,594 shares in the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Altria Group Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $49.67 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $51.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $47.47. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $39.06 and a 1-year high of $54.95. The firm has a market cap of $84.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.65.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $6.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.39 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 232.55% and a net margin of 42.25%. Altria Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.31 EPS. Analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.21%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This is a positive change from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Altria Group’s payout ratio is presently 70.34%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on MO shares. Barclays boosted their price objective on Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $50.17.

Altria Group Profile

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.