Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Shares Purchased by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 25.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 342,019 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 70,444 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $17,884,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of MO. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 2.2% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,159,890 shares of the company’s stock worth $107,679,000 after buying an additional 46,697 shares during the period. Czech National Bank increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 367,469 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,215,000 after purchasing an additional 19,893 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 240,454 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,573,000 after purchasing an additional 12,011 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 worth $2,935,224,000 after purchasing an additional 589,832 shares during the period. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew 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 worth $100,511,000 after buying an additional 1,731,932 shares in the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of Altria Group stock opened at $55.15 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $93.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.42, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.64. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $39.25 and a one year high of $58.03. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $52.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $52.78.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.01. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 258.72% and a net margin of 46.90%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were issued 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 7.40%. Altria Group’s payout ratio 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.