Vanguard Group Inc. Purchases 214,649 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 0.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 159,923,518 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 214,649 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 9.31% of Altria Group worth $6,975,864,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MO. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 46.9% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 381,218 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,030,000 after buying an additional 121,762 shares during the last quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 7,379 shares of the company’s stock valued at $298,000 after buying an additional 293 shares during the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the fourth quarter worth about $68,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, West Coast Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the fourth quarter worth about $220,000. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Altria Group from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 28th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $47.10.

Altria Group Price Performance

MO traded up $0.12 on Friday, hitting $49.45. The company had a trading volume of 5,776,517 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,592,368. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $39.06 and a 52-week high of $49.92. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $46.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $43.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.35, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.66.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.15. Altria Group had a net margin of 34.81% and a negative return on equity of 222.80%. The firm had revenue of $4.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.71 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.18 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.93%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 82.01%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Charles N. Whitaker sold 22,487 shares of Altria Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.95, for a total transaction of $988,303.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 173,485 shares in the company, valued at $7,624,665.75. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

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.