Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO – Free Report) in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 3,835 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $196,000.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MO. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 729.8% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,731,932 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 3,786.6% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,743,443 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,985,000 after acquiring an additional 1,698,585 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 25.0% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company’s stock valued at $295,055,000 after acquiring an additional 1,299,703 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 415.4% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 984,285 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,935,000 after acquiring an additional 793,327 shares during the period. Finally, National Pension Service raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 19.9% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,034,414 shares of the company’s stock valued at $205,916,000 after acquiring an additional 670,858 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Altria Group Price Performance
NYSE:MO opened at $53.94 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $91.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.11, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.64. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $39.25 and a one year high of $55.05. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $51.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $48.90.
Altria Group Increases Dividend
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $1.02 dividend. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.56%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.92%.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of brokerages recently commented on MO. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Barclays boosted 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. Stifel Nicolaus boosted 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. Finally, Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.33.
Check Out Our Latest Analysis on Altria Group
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.
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