Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Stock Position Lifted by Exchange Traded Concepts LLC

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 93.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 708,088 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 342,953 shares during the period. Altria Group comprises approximately 0.7% of Exchange Traded Concepts LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 19th largest position. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $37,026,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MO. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Altria Group by 5.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 73,481,686 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,821,831,000 after purchasing an additional 3,910,738 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 729.8% during the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,969,262 shares of the company’s stock worth $100,511,000 after acquiring an additional 1,731,932 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 3,786.6% in the 3rd 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. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 25.0% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company’s stock worth $295,055,000 after purchasing an additional 1,299,703 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Altria Group by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,803,759 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,079,919,000 after buying an additional 1,003,605 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their price target on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $54.00 target price for the company. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.43.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of MO stock opened at $51.65 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $54.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $52.10. The stock has a market cap of $87.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.64. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $39.25 and a one year high of $58.03.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.33 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.28 EPS. Altria Group’s revenue was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.13 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th were given a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.90%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 68.92%.

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.