Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC Sells 470 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC cut its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 63,197 shares of the company’s stock after selling 470 shares during the quarter. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $3,305,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MO. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 5.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 73,481,686 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,821,831,000 after buying an additional 3,910,738 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Altria Group during the fourth quarter worth about $137,536,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 4.0% during 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. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 2.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,803,759 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,079,919,000 after buying an additional 1,003,605 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group during the third quarter worth about $32,206,000. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on MO shares. 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 report on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America raised Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Two 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.29.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.7 %

MO opened at $58.97 on Monday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $40.65 and a 12-month high of $59.67. The stock has a market cap of $99.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.00, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.56. The business has a 50 day moving average of $53.75 and a 200-day moving average of $53.31.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 earnings per share (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%. As a group, analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 25th will be given a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 25th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.92%. Altria Group’s payout ratio 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.