Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Increases Stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 4.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 59,805,286 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,296,972 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $3,127,218,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 20.3% in the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 125,871 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,582,000 after acquiring an additional 21,281 shares during the last quarter. Bedel Financial Consulting Inc. increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 23.4% in the 4th quarter. Bedel Financial Consulting Inc. now owns 13,453 shares of the company’s stock worth $707,000 after acquiring an additional 2,554 shares during the last quarter. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 10.9% in the 4th quarter. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,428 shares of the company’s stock worth $284,000 after acquiring an additional 533 shares during the last quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 10.0% in the 4th quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC now owns 15,070 shares of the company’s stock worth $786,000 after acquiring an additional 1,364 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Keystone Wealth Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Keystone Wealth Services LLC now owns 12,142 shares of the company’s stock worth $635,000 after acquiring an additional 307 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America raised Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Barclays raised their price objective on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley cut 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. Finally, StockNews.com raised Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Altria Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.29.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of Altria Group stock opened at $57.33 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $52.84 and a 200 day moving average of $52.96. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $39.25 and a 12 month high of $58.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $96.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.64.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.01. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 258.72% and a net margin of 46.90%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 25th will be issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 25th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.