American Century Companies Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 163.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 50,862 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 31,568 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $2,317,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in Altria Group by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 13,279,658 shares of the company’s stock valued at $535,701,000 after purchasing an additional 242,442 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 120.6% during the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,762,047 shares of the company’s stock worth $382,201,000 after acquiring an additional 4,789,788 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 5.0% during the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,060,589 shares of the company’s stock worth $230,510,000 after acquiring an additional 243,201 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 4.6% during the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 4,888,137 shares of the company’s stock worth $222,655,000 after acquiring an additional 215,594 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 1.5% during the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 3,754,522 shares of the company’s stock worth $163,772,000 after acquiring an additional 54,096 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 28th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $49.67.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $51.05 on Friday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.06 and a 12-month high of $54.95. The company has a market capitalization of $87.68 billion, a PE ratio of 10.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.65. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $51.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $47.13.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced 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). 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 analysts’ expectations of $5.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.31 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.99%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is 85.36%.

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.