Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Increases Stock Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 24.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,141,605 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 423,091 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned 0.12% of Altria Group worth $97,550,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 13,279,658 shares of the company’s stock valued at $535,701,000 after purchasing an additional 242,442 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 120.6% in the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,762,047 shares of the company’s stock valued at $382,201,000 after purchasing an additional 4,789,788 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 5.0% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,060,589 shares of the company’s stock valued at $230,510,000 after purchasing an additional 243,201 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 4.6% in the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 4,888,137 shares of the company’s stock valued at $222,655,000 after purchasing an additional 215,594 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 1.5% in the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 3,754,522 shares of the company’s stock valued at $163,772,000 after purchasing an additional 54,096 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Argus raised shares of Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Two 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, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $49.67.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of MO stock opened at $50.55 on Thursday. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $39.06 and a one year high of $54.95. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $51.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $46.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.65.

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

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.07%. This is a positive change from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Altria Group’s dividend 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.