Contrarius Group Holdings Ltd Buys New Stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Contrarius Group Holdings Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 51,251 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,680,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Fiduciary Group LLC grew its stake in Altria Group by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Group LLC now owns 13,778 shares of the company’s stock valued at $720,000 after acquiring an additional 203 shares in the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 136.4% in the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 2,022,121 shares of the company’s stock worth $105,737,000 after buying an additional 1,166,701 shares in the last quarter. Generali Investments Management Co LLC purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group in the 4th quarter worth $40,000. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 781.3% in the 4th quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 22,720 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,189,000 after buying an additional 20,142 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stokes Family Office LLC grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Stokes Family Office LLC now owns 66,136 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,458,000 after buying an additional 2,948 shares in the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley dropped 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 note on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America raised shares of Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.29.

Altria Group Trading Down 0.6 %

MO stock opened at $57.97 on Thursday. 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 $54.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $53.42. The stock has a market cap of $98.01 billion, a PE ratio of 8.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.56.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.01. Altria Group had a net margin of 46.90% and a negative return on equity of 258.72%. 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 disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 25th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.04%. 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.