Bank of New York Mellon Corp Has $704.82 Million Stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp lowered its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 13,478,987 shares of the company’s stock after selling 392,431 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $704,816,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in MO. Aviance Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC now owns 40,362 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,060,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. Horst & Graben Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Horst & Graben Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,015 shares of the company’s stock valued at $681,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares during the period. Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc now owns 6,302 shares of the company’s stock valued at $330,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares during the period. Ridgecrest Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 3.5% in the third quarter. Ridgecrest Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,851 shares of the company’s stock worth $299,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Citizens Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. First Citizens Financial Corp now owns 4,402 shares of the company’s stock worth $230,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on 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 Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $55.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Altria Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.29.

Altria Group Stock Up 1.3 %

Altria Group stock opened at $55.99 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $52.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $52.82. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $39.25 and a 12 month high of $58.03. The stock has a market cap of $94.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.64.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.01. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 258.72% and a net margin of 46.90%. On average, analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.29%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 26th. 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.