Altria Group, Inc. $MO Stock Bought by Maryland State Retirement & Pension System

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lifted its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 14.2% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 102,274 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,724 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $6,887,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MO. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in Altria Group by 1.1% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 126,073,166 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,070,964,000 after purchasing an additional 1,325,175 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Altria Group in the second quarter worth $1,806,782,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in Altria Group in the second quarter worth $1,104,566,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Altria Group by 1.0% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 12,929,142 shares of the company’s stock worth $853,194,000 after purchasing an additional 133,676 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in Altria Group in the second quarter worth $631,606,000. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on MO shares. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $71.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Monday, October 12th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Altria Group from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Altria Group from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 2nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Altria Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at Altria Group

In related news, Director Kathryn McQuade purchased 1,500 shares of Altria Group stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 9th. The stock was bought at an average price of $67.62 per share, for a total transaction of $101,430.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 114,929 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,771,498.98. This represents a 1.32% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Altria Group Price Performance

NYSE:MO opened at $78.09 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $72.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $69.45. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $54.70 and a fifty-two week high of $79.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $129.90 billion, a PE ratio of 16.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.43.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The company reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $5.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.31 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 330.66% and a net margin of 34.51%. Altria Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.45 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.70 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th were issued a $1.11 dividend. This represents a $4.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.7%. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.06. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 15th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 91.74%.

Altria Group Profile

Altria Group, Inc. is a U.S.-based tobacco and nicotine company whose businesses focus primarily on the domestic market. Its products include cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, cigars, oral nicotine products and e-vapor products. Altria’s portfolio includes Marlboro cigarettes, made by Philip Morris USA; Copenhagen and Skoal smokeless tobacco products, made by U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company; and products from John Middleton and Helix Innovations. The company also owns NJOY, an e-vapor brand. The company was established as Philip Morris Companies Inc. and adopted the Altria name in 2003.