Graham Capital Management L.P. Acquires Shares of 33,313 Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Graham Capital Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 33,313 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,742,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. 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 purchasing an additional 2,296,972 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Altria Group by 2.8% in 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 purchasing an additional 1,134,748 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 76,004 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Altria Group by 9.6% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,432,535 shares of the company's stock worth $859,257,000 after buying an additional 1,444,021 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Altria Group by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,801,958 shares of the company's stock worth $617,124,000 after buying an additional 983,328 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on MO shares. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Altria Group from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $60.00 price objective on Altria Group in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. StockNews.com downgraded Altria Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Altria Group has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $56.00.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MO traded down $0.46 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $56.49. 11,405,833 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,767,029. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $43.83 and a 12-month high of $61.26. The firm has a market cap of $95.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.60. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $58.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $55.34.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $4.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.64 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 258.72% and a net margin of 46.90%. The business's revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.15 EPS. As a group, equities 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 25th were given a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 25th. Altria Group's dividend payout ratio is presently 68.34%.

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.