Pacer Advisors Inc. Has $496.85 Million Stock Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Pacer Advisors Inc. lessened its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 3.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,907,726 shares of the company’s stock after selling 443,920 shares during the period. Altria Group comprises 1.1% of Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest position. Pacer Advisors Inc. owned approximately 0.64% of Altria Group worth $496,847,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 154.4% during the 1st quarter. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 575 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 349 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group during the 1st quarter worth about $27,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group during the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Westend Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group during the 1st quarter worth about $29,000. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MO. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Argus upgraded shares of Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Altria Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $49.67.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of MO stock opened at $50.39 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $51.27 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $46.77. The company has a market capitalization of $86.55 billion, a PE ratio of 10.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.65. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.06 and a 12-month high of $54.95.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued 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 negative return on equity of 232.55% and a net margin of 42.25%. The company had revenue of $6.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.39 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.31 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.10%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.