50,961 Shares in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Purchased by Allstate Corp

Allstate Corp purchased a new stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 50,961 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,665,000.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 126,639 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,622,000 after acquiring an additional 3,617 shares in the last quarter. RiverFront Investment Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the fourth quarter valued at $216,000. Vertex Planning Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group in the 4th quarter valued at $201,000. Slagle Financial LLC increased its stake in Altria Group by 7.7% in the 4th quarter. Slagle Financial LLC now owns 71,330 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,730,000 after purchasing an additional 5,104 shares in the last quarter. Finally, denkapparat Operations GmbH acquired a new stake in Altria Group during the 4th quarter worth about $526,000. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on MO. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company 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 raised their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.29.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $58.17 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $55.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $53.59. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $40.65 and a 52 week high of $59.67. The stock has a market cap of $98.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.88, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.56.

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

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 25th will be issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 25th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.01%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 62.29%.

Altria Group 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.