Chesley Taft & Associates LLC Acquires Shares of 10,359 Altria Group, Inc. $MO

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC bought a new stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 10,359 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $597,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in Altria Group by 64.7% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 17,702 shares of the company’s stock worth $926,000 after acquiring an additional 6,954 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Altria Group by 86.3% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,361 shares of the company’s stock valued at $373,000 after acquiring an additional 2,946 shares during the period. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 6.9% during the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 9,630 shares of the company’s stock valued at $565,000 after purchasing an additional 618 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 6.7% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 255,179 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,961,000 after purchasing an additional 16,113 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new position in Altria Group during the second quarter worth about $475,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Altria Group

In other news, SVP Charles N. Whitaker sold 27,908 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.57, for a total value of $1,885,743.56. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 180,869 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,221,318.33. This represents a 13.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.08% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MO. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Altria Group from $72.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $67.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Finally, Argus raised shares of Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $65.11.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.7%

NYSE:MO opened at $66.97 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $111.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.30, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.45. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $65.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $62.49. Altria Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $52.82 and a twelve month high of $70.51.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The company reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.32 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $5.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.02 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 287.61% and a net margin of 29.84%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.30 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 25th will be paid a $1.06 dividend. This represents a $4.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 25th. Altria Group’s payout ratio is currently 103.16%.

About Altria Group

Altria Group, Inc (NYSE: MO) is a U.S.-based consumer goods company whose principal business is the manufacture and sale of tobacco products. Headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, the company’s operations are focused primarily on the U.S. market and include the production, marketing and distribution of cigarettes, smokeless tobacco and cigars. Its flagship cigarette franchise in the United States is sold through its operating subsidiaries and is among the most recognizable cigarette brands in the country.

Altria’s principal operating businesses include Philip Morris USA (cigarettes), U.S.