Howe & Rusling Inc. Sells 740 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Howe & Rusling Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 8.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 8,532 shares of the company’s stock after selling 740 shares during the quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $446,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 73,481,686 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,821,831,000 after buying an additional 3,910,738 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 4.0% during 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 2.5% during 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 period. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,488,007 shares of the company’s stock valued at $234,678,000 after acquiring an additional 93,121 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service boosted 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 valued at $221,310,000 after purchasing an additional 197,945 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Altria Group Trading Up 1.0 %

MO opened at $58.32 on Friday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $40.65 and a 12 month high of $59.67. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $54.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $53.57. The firm has a market cap of $98.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.90, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.56.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.01. Altria Group had a net margin of 46.90% and a negative return on equity of 258.72%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 25th will be issued a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.00%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 25th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.29%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on 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 upgraded Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.29.

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.