Nwam LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Nwam LLC decreased its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 6.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,440 shares of the company’s stock after selling 915 shares during the quarter. Nwam LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $650,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 2.2% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,159,890 shares of the company’s stock valued at $107,679,000 after buying an additional 46,697 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank lifted its position in Altria Group by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 367,469 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,215,000 after purchasing an additional 19,893 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC lifted its position in Altria Group by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 240,454 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,573,000 after purchasing an additional 12,011 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 589,832 shares during the period. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Altria Group by 729.8% during the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,969,262 shares of the company’s stock valued at $100,511,000 after purchasing an additional 1,731,932 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.29.

Altria Group Trading Up 1.4 %

MO opened at $55.83 on Friday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $39.25 and a 1-year high of $58.03. The company has a market capitalization of $94.61 billion, a PE ratio of 8.52, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.64. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $52.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $52.89.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 25th will be given a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 25th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.31%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 62.29%.

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.