Todd Asset Management LLC Has $49.62 Million Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Todd Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 12.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 826,718 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 91,469 shares during the quarter. Altria Group makes up approximately 1.2% of Todd Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. Todd Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $49,620,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 158,117,225 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,490,196,000 after buying an additional 1,300,787 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 63,288,773 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,798,592,000 after buying an additional 3,483,487 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 9.6% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,432,535 shares of the company’s stock worth $859,257,000 after buying an additional 1,444,021 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 12,243,041 shares of the company’s stock worth $734,827,000 after buying an additional 441,083 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 40.0% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 11,961,220 shares of the company’s stock worth $717,913,000 after buying an additional 3,415,237 shares in the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $47.00 to $59.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Barclays increased their target price on Altria Group from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Altria Group from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Citigroup increased their target price on Altria Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Altria Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $59.13.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of MO opened at $64.21 on Monday. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $48.86 and a one year high of $64.35. The company has a market cap of $107.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.42, a P/E/G ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.59. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $59.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $57.88.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $5.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.21 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 37.24% and a negative return on equity of 295.26%. The company’s revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.31 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 10th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.4%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is currently 78.92%.

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.