Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) sold by Rhumbline Advisers

Rhumbline Advisers reduced its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO – Free Report) by 4.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,018,949 shares of the company’s stock after selling 137,362 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers owned approximately 0.18% of Altria Group worth $137,513,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MO. 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 worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 349 shares during the period. BNP Paribas purchased a new stake in Altria Group in the first quarter valued at about $27,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Westend Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the 1st quarter worth approximately $29,000. 57.41% of the shares are currently held by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Changes in Analyst Ratings

MO has been the subject of several research reports. Argus upgraded shares of Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Altria Group from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Barclays upped their price target on Altria Group from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st . Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. The stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $47.08, based on data from MarketBeat.

Get the latest analysis on MO

Altria Group’s price performance

Shares of NYSE:MO opened at $54.07 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $49.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $45.76. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $39.06 and a 1 year high of $54.47. The firm has a market cap of $92.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.66.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO – Get Free Report ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $6.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.39 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.25% and a negative return on equity of 232.55%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% year over year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.31 per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. to post 5.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Raises Dividends

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $1.02 per share. This is a positive change from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents an annualized dividend of $4.08 and a yield of 7.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 85.36%.

Altria Group Profile

(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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