Schechter Investment Advisors LLC Purchases 533 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Schechter Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 10.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 5,428 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 533 shares during the quarter. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $284,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MO. State Street Corp increased 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 worth $3,821,831,000 after purchasing an additional 3,910,738 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 729.8% during the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,969,262 shares of the company’s stock worth $100,511,000 after buying an additional 1,731,932 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake 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 valued at $2,079,919,000 after buying an additional 1,003,605 shares during the period. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the third quarter valued at about $32,206,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Altria Group by 1.0% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 57,508,314 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,935,224,000 after acquiring an additional 589,832 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Altria Group Stock Performance

NYSE:MO opened at $55.95 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $52.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $53.01. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $40.65 and a fifty-two week high of $58.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $94.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.64.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 earnings per share 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, research analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 25th will be paid a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 25th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.29%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.29%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Bank of America upgraded 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. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.