Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC Boosts Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) by 67.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,058,783 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 427,791 shares during the period. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC owned 0.06% of Altria Group worth $55,364,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake 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 valued at $3,127,218,000 after buying an additional 2,296,972 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 41,938,507 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,193,687,000 after buying an additional 1,134,748 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 22,273,491 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,164,681,000 after buying an additional 76,004 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,432,535 shares of the company's stock valued at $859,257,000 after purchasing an additional 1,444,021 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,801,958 shares of the company's stock valued at $617,124,000 after purchasing an additional 983,328 shares in the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on MO. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $60.00 price target on Altria Group in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Altria Group from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Altria Group from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Altria Group from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $56.00.

Altria Group Trading Up 0.9%

Altria Group stock opened at $59.44 on Tuesday. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $58.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $55.55. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $43.83 and a 12 month high of $61.26. The company has a market capitalization of $100.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.60.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.04. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 258.72% and a net margin of 46.90%. The business had revenue of $4.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.15 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.86%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. Altria Group's payout ratio is currently 68.34%.

Altria Group Company 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.

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