TIAA Trust National Association Purchases 292 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

TIAA Trust National Association raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 61,816 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 292 shares during the quarter. TIAA Trust National Association’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $3,232,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in MO. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 5.6% during the 3rd 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 last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the fourth quarter worth about $137,536,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 59,805,286 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,127,218,000 after buying an additional 2,296,972 shares in the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its holdings in Altria Group by 136.4% during the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 2,022,121 shares of the company’s stock valued at $105,737,000 after buying an additional 1,166,701 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. increased its stake in Altria Group by 49.3% in the 4th quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 3,317,662 shares of the company’s stock worth $173,481,000 after acquiring an additional 1,096,205 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on MO shares. Bank of America upgraded Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.29.

Altria Group Trading Up 1.8 %

MO stock opened at $57.74 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $97.61 billion, a PE ratio of 8.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.56. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $40.65 and a 12 month high of $59.67. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $54.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $53.54.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 earnings per share (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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 25th will be issued a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 25th. Altria Group’s payout ratio is presently 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.