Amalgamated Bank Has $21.06 Million Stock Position in Altria Group, Inc. $MO

Amalgamated Bank decreased its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 2.1% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 359,159 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,564 shares during the period. Amalgamated Bank’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $21,057,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MO. GQG Partners LLC boosted its position in Altria Group by 8,146.4% during the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 18,698,594 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,122,290,000 after purchasing an additional 18,471,846 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the first quarter worth about $219,141,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 5.8% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 63,288,773 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,798,592,000 after buying an additional 3,483,487 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 40.0% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 11,961,220 shares of the company’s stock worth $717,913,000 after buying an additional 3,415,237 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 111.3% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 5,558,252 shares of the company’s stock worth $333,606,000 after buying an additional 2,928,006 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on MO shares. Barclays boosted their price target on Altria Group from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 price objective on Altria Group in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Altria Group from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Altria Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.11.

Altria Group Trading Down 2.1%

Shares of MO opened at $61.93 on Thursday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $49.88 and a 1 year high of $68.60. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $65.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $61.90. The stock has a market cap of $104.03 billion, a PE ratio of 11.98, a PEG ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.55.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.07. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 295.26% and a net margin of 37.24%.The business had revenue of $5.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.21 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.31 EPS. Altria Group’s quarterly revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th were issued a $1.06 dividend. This represents a $4.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. Altria Group’s payout ratio is currently 82.01%.

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.