Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN Has $26,000 Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN cut its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 60.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 500 shares of the company’s stock after selling 749 shares during the period. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $26,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Altria Group by 5.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 73,481,686 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,821,831,000 after purchasing an additional 3,910,738 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings 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 valued at $2,935,224,000 after purchasing an additional 589,832 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Altria Group by 2.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 1,003,605 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in Altria Group by 1.6% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,355,509 shares of the company’s stock valued at $562,793,000 after purchasing an additional 191,236 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Altria Group by 25.0% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company’s stock valued at $295,055,000 after acquiring an additional 1,299,703 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $50.84 on Tuesday. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.25 and a fifty-two week high of $58.03. The stock has a market cap of $86.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.59, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.64. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $54.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $51.88.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.03. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.82% and a negative return on equity of 233.80%. The firm had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.33 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.28 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.12 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were paid a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.03%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is currently 68.92%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on MO. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America raised shares of Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.33.

Altria Group Company Profile

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.