Lee Danner & Bass Inc. Acquires 335 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Lee Danner & Bass Inc. lifted its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 23,415 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 335 shares during the period. Lee Danner & Bass Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,224,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MO. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 5.6% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Altria Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $137,536,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Altria Group by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 59,805,286 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,127,218,000 after purchasing an additional 2,296,972 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its holdings in Altria Group by 136.4% during the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 2,022,121 shares of the company’s stock valued at $105,737,000 after purchasing an additional 1,166,701 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Altria Group by 2.5% during 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. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.2 %

Altria Group stock opened at $58.09 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $98.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.56. The business has a fifty day moving average of $54.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $53.45. Altria Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $40.65 and a twelve month 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 for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.01. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 258.72% and a net margin of 46.90%. Equities analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 25th will be given a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.02%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 25th. Altria Group’s payout ratio is currently 62.29%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America raised Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.29.

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.