133,900 Shares in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Purchased by Essential Planning LLC.

Essential Planning LLC. acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 133,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,127,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MO. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 5.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 73,481,686 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,821,831,000 after acquiring an additional 3,910,738 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 59,805,286 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,127,218,000 after acquiring an additional 2,296,972 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 2.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,803,759 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,079,919,000 after acquiring an additional 1,003,605 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,488,007 shares of the company’s stock worth $234,678,000 after acquiring an additional 93,121 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,232,359 shares of the company’s stock worth $221,310,000 after acquiring an additional 197,945 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on MO. Bank of America raised shares of Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.29.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $58.17 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $53.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $53.20. The firm has a market cap of $98.35 billion, a PE ratio of 8.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.56. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $40.65 and a 1 year high of $59.67.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.01. Altria Group had a net margin of 46.90% and a negative return on equity of 258.72%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 25th will be given a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.01%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 25th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.29%.

About Altria Group

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.