Principal Financial Group Inc. has $89.54M position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO – Free Report) by 2.4% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,965,735 shares of the company’s stock after selling 48,034 shares during the quarter. The holdings of Principal Financial Group Inc. holdings in Altria Group were worth $89,539,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 154.4% in the first quarter. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 575 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 349 shares during the period. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Altria Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. BNP Paribas purchased a new stake in Altria Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC bought a new position in Altria Group in the second quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Westend Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Altria Group in the 1st quarter worth approximately $29,000. 57.41% of shares are held by institutional investors.

Altria Group’s price performance

Shares of MO stock opened at $53.77 on Friday. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $39.06 and a one year high of $53.82. The company has a market cap of $92.36 billion, a PE ratio of 11.25, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.66. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $49.19 and a 200-day moving average of $45.40.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO – Get Free Report ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.04). Altria Group had a net margin of 42.25% and a negative return on equity of 232.55%. The firm had revenue of $6.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.39 billion. In the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.31 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect Altria Group, Inc. will record 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Raises Dividends

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a dividend of $4.08 on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 85.36%.

Analyst upgrades and downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on MO. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Argus raised Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Barclays raised their price target on Altria Group from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on Altria Group from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. The stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $47.08, according to MarketBeat.

Read our latest review of MO

About Altria Group

(Free report)

Altria Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells smoking 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; smokeless moist tobacco and snus products under the brands Copenhagen, Skoal, Red Seal and Husky; oral nicotine pouches under pe! brand; and e-vapor products under the NJOY ACE brand.

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