Pallas Capital Advisors LLC Has $720,000 Stock Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MOFree Report) by 4.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,769 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 639 shares during the period. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $720,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of 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. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Altria Group by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 57,508,314 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,935,224,000 after purchasing an additional 589,832 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Altria Group by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,803,759 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,079,919,000 after purchasing an additional 1,003,605 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in Altria Group by 1.6% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,355,509 shares of the company’s stock worth $562,793,000 after purchasing an additional 191,236 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew 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 worth $295,055,000 after purchasing an additional 1,299,703 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MO has been the topic of several research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com raised Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Altria Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.33.

Check Out Our Latest Research Report on Altria Group

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of MO stock opened at $51.32 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $54.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $51.92. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $39.25 and a 52-week high of $58.03. The stock has a market cap of $86.98 billion, a PE ratio of 8.67, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.64.

Altria Group (NYSE:MOGet Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.33 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 233.80% and a net margin of 42.82%. The firm’s revenue was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.28 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th were given a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.95%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is 68.92%.

About Altria Group

(Free Report)

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.

Further Reading

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Altria Group (NYSE:MO)

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