Schroder Investment Management Group Sells 45,469 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Schroder Investment Management Group lessened its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 12.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 331,536 shares of the company’s stock after selling 45,469 shares during the quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $17,266,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in 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. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Altria Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $137,536,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 59,805,286 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,127,218,000 after purchasing an additional 2,296,972 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its stake in Altria Group by 136.4% during the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 2,022,121 shares of the company’s stock worth $105,737,000 after purchasing an additional 1,166,701 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Altria Group by 49.3% during the 4th quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 3,317,662 shares of the company’s stock worth $173,481,000 after buying an additional 1,096,205 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group increased their target price on Altria Group from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday. Bank of America upgraded Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $55.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Altria Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $54.00.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of MO stock opened at $57.93 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $55.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $53.75. The stock has a market cap of $97.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.56. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $40.65 and a one year high of $60.18.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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, equities research analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 25th will be paid a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 25th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.