Wellington Management Group LLP Sells 55,302 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Wellington Management Group LLP decreased its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 19.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 226,964 shares of the company’s stock after selling 55,302 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $11,584,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MO. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group in the 3rd quarter worth about $32,206,000. State Street Corp grew its stake in Altria Group by 5.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 73,481,686 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,821,831,000 after purchasing an additional 3,910,738 shares during the period. SYM FINANCIAL Corp increased its holdings in Altria Group by 18.7% in the third quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 9,982 shares of the company’s stock worth $509,000 after purchasing an additional 1,576 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its stake in Altria Group by 90.8% in the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 112,587 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,746,000 after buying an additional 53,567 shares during the period. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 20.7% during the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 730,523 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,286,000 after buying an additional 125,076 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Price Performance

NYSE MO opened at $54.92 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $53.60 and its 200-day moving average is $50.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $93.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.28, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.63. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $39.25 and a one year high of $58.03.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.03. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 233.80% and a net margin of 42.82%. The business had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.33 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.28 earnings per share. Altria Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th will be paid a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 26th. Altria Group’s payout ratio is currently 68.92%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Citigroup increased their target price on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.33.

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.