Cigna Investments Inc. New Has $911,000 Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Cigna Investments Inc. New lowered its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 17,427 shares of the company’s stock after selling 207 shares during the quarter. Cigna Investments Inc. New’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $911,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Altria Group by 5.6% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 1.0% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 57,508,314 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,935,224,000 after acquiring an additional 589,832 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted 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 acquiring an additional 1,003,605 shares during the period. National Pension Service lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 19.9% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,034,414 shares of the company’s stock valued at $205,916,000 after acquiring an additional 670,858 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its stake in Altria Group by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 3,414,856 shares of the company’s stock valued at $178,563,000 after buying an additional 39,341 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on MO shares. Barclays increased their target price on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America upgraded Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Altria Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.29.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $53.84 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $53.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $52.49. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.25 and a 52 week high of $58.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $91.24 billion, a PE ratio of 8.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.64.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued 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 negative return on equity of 258.72% and a net margin of 46.90%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were given a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.58%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 62.29%.

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.