Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Acquires 1,244 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. raised its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 58,801 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,244 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $3,075,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Altria Group by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 73,481,686 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,821,831,000 after buying an additional 3,910,738 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 729.8% in the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,969,262 shares of the company’s stock valued at $100,511,000 after acquiring an additional 1,731,932 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of 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 worth $88,985,000 after acquiring an additional 1,698,585 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Altria Group by 2.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,803,759 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,079,919,000 after acquiring an additional 1,003,605 shares during the period. Finally, National Pension Service raised its stake in Altria Group by 19.9% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,034,414 shares of the company’s stock valued at $205,916,000 after purchasing an additional 670,858 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on MO. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America upgraded Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.29.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of MO stock opened at $52.65 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $53.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $52.42. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $39.25 and a one year high of $58.03. The firm has a market cap of $89.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 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 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%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current 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 issued a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 26th. Altria Group’s payout ratio is currently 62.29%.

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.