Anchor Investment Management LLC Acquires 3,478 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Anchor Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 35.9% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 13,174 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 3,478 shares during the period. Anchor Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $672,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 5.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 73,481,686 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,821,831,000 after acquiring an additional 3,910,738 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Altria Group by 729.8% during 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 buying an additional 1,731,932 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Altria Group by 3,786.6% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,743,443 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,985,000 after buying an additional 1,698,585 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Altria Group by 25.0% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company’s stock worth $295,055,000 after acquiring an additional 1,299,703 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,803,759 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,079,919,000 after acquiring an additional 1,003,605 shares in the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Altria Group Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE MO opened at $55.01 on Friday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $39.25 and a 12 month high of $58.03. The stock has a market cap of $93.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.29, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.63. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $53.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $50.71.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.03. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 233.80% and a net margin of 42.82%. The company had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.33 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.28 earnings per share. Altria Group’s revenue was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 26th will be issued a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.42%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 26th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is 68.92%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. 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. StockNews.com raised Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Bank of America raised Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.33.

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.