Wellington Management Group LLP Sells 55,302 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Wellington Management Group LLP trimmed its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 19.6% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 226,964 shares of the company’s stock after selling 55,302 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $11,584,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MO. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the third quarter worth $32,206,000. State Street Corp grew its position in Altria Group by 5.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 73,481,686 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,821,831,000 after buying an additional 3,910,738 shares in the last quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp increased its stake in Altria Group by 18.7% in the 3rd quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 9,982 shares of the company’s stock worth $509,000 after acquiring an additional 1,576 shares during the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 90.8% in the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 112,587 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,746,000 after acquiring an additional 53,567 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 20.7% during the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 730,523 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,286,000 after acquiring an additional 125,076 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Altria Group Stock Performance

MO stock opened at $54.92 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $93.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.28, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.63. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $53.60 and its 200 day moving average is $50.89. 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 quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.33 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.82% and a negative return on equity of 233.80%. The company’s revenue was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.28 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.12 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 26th will be paid a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.43%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.92%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America raised shares of Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group increased their target price on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.33.

Altria Group Company 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.