New York State Common Retirement Fund Decreases Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lessened its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,436,900 shares of the company’s stock after selling 162,600 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $124,379,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. BNP Paribas acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Altria Group during the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the second quarter valued at about $30,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 63.9% during the second quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 667 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the period. Finally, Lynx Investment Advisory acquired a new position in Altria Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE MO traded down $0.37 on Friday, reaching $54.09. 1,004,264 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,859,785. The stock has a market capitalization of $92.29 billion, a PE ratio of 9.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.65. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.25 and a fifty-two week high of $54.95. The company has a 50 day moving average of $51.39 and a 200 day moving average of $48.29.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.33 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 232.55% and a net margin of 42.25%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.28 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $1.02 dividend. This is a positive change from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.54%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 70.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on MO shares. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Barclays boosted their price target on Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price objective on Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.40.

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.