LGT Group Foundation Makes New $446,000 Investment in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

LGT Group Foundation purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 8,526 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $446,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bellecapital International Ltd. raised its holdings in Altria Group by 75.9% during the 4th quarter. Bellecapital International Ltd. now owns 60,578 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,168,000 after purchasing an additional 26,147 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Altria Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $13,895,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in Altria Group by 72.9% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 195,260 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,210,000 after purchasing an additional 82,313 shares during the last quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Altria Group by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 22,248 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,163,000 after purchasing an additional 787 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Altria Group by 50.2% during the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 8,658 shares of the company’s stock worth $453,000 after purchasing an additional 2,892 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Trading Up 2.6 %

NYSE MO opened at $57.33 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $52.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $52.96. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.25 and a 12-month high of $58.03. The company has a market cap of $96.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.75, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.64.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 earnings per share (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%. Sell-side analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 25th will be given a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.12%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 25th. Altria Group’s payout ratio is currently 62.29%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on MO shares. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Bank of America raised shares of Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock 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.