WESPAC Advisors LLC Buys New Shares in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

WESPAC Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 14,757 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $772,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MO. State Street Corp grew its position in Altria Group by 5.6% in 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 in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its position in Altria Group by 729.8% in 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 purchasing an additional 1,731,932 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Altria Group by 2.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,803,759 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,079,919,000 after purchasing an additional 1,003,605 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service grew its position in Altria Group by 19.9% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,034,414 shares of the company’s stock valued at $205,916,000 after purchasing an additional 670,858 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,206,000. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Stock Performance

NYSE MO opened at $55.01 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $52.61 and a 200-day moving average of $52.73. The stock has a market cap of $93.22 billion, a PE ratio of 8.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.64. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $39.25 and a 52-week high of $58.03.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.01. Altria Group had a net margin of 46.90% and a negative return on equity of 258.72%. As a group, analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were paid a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.42%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 26th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.29%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America raised shares of Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.29.

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.