Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Sells 4,155 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lessened its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 0.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 585,228 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,155 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $26,657,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 120.6% during the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,762,047 shares of the company’s stock worth $382,201,000 after purchasing an additional 4,789,788 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 25.0% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company’s stock valued at $295,055,000 after buying an additional 1,299,703 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 415.4% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 984,285 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,935,000 after acquiring an additional 793,327 shares during the period. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the first quarter worth $27,613,000. Finally, Distillate Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Altria Group by 182,943.7% in the 2nd quarter. Distillate Capital Partners LLC now owns 569,266 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,930,000 after buying an additional 568,955 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America lifted their price target on Altria Group from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.67.

Altria Group Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of Altria Group stock opened at $51.04 on Tuesday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $39.06 and a 52-week high of $54.95. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $51.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $47.20. The company has a market cap of $87.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.68, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.65.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $6.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.39 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 232.55% and a net margin of 42.25%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.31 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.99%. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s payout ratio is presently 85.36%.

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.