Man Group plc Reduces Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Man Group plc lessened its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 3.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 111,398 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,315 shares during the period. Man Group plc’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $5,825,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of MO. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Altria Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $137,536,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Altria Group by 4.0% during 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 acquiring an additional 2,296,972 shares in the last quarter. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Altria Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $91,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Altria Group by 9.6% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,432,535 shares of the company’s stock valued at $859,257,000 after acquiring an additional 1,444,021 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bridgewater Associates LP grew its stake in Altria Group by 86.0% during the 4th quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 2,675,347 shares of the company’s stock valued at $139,894,000 after acquiring an additional 1,236,782 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on MO shares. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Altria Group from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley dropped 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 research note on Friday, January 31st. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Altria Group from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $56.00.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Altria Group stock opened at $59.85 on Wednesday. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $43.83 and a fifty-two week high of $61.26. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $58.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $55.58. The company has a market capitalization of $100.81 billion, a PE ratio of 9.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.60.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.04. Altria Group had a net margin of 46.90% and a negative return on equity of 258.72%. The business had revenue of $4.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.15 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.82%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 68.34%.

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.