Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Acquires 589 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 2.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 26,253 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 589 shares during the quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,373,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MO. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Altria Group by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,159,890 shares of the company’s stock worth $107,679,000 after acquiring an additional 46,697 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 15.3% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 305,704 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,603,000 after purchasing an additional 40,574 shares during the last quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Altria Group by 4.2% in the second quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 251,933 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,476,000 after purchasing an additional 10,079 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its position in Altria Group by 2.3% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 1,456,308 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,330,000 after purchasing an additional 32,318 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWA Asset Management Group LLC grew its stake in Altria Group by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 240,454 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,573,000 after buying an additional 12,011 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays raised their price target on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. 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 report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.33.

Altria Group Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of Altria Group stock opened at $50.84 on Monday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $39.25 and a 12 month high of $58.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.59, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.64. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $54.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $51.84.

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

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th were paid a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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%.

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.