Brown Miller Wealth Management LLC Lowers Stock Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Brown Miller Wealth Management LLC lowered its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 21.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 9,200 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,564 shares during the period. Brown Miller Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $371,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 70,564,529 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,262,710,000 after acquiring an additional 1,240,150 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Altria Group by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 44,456,064 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,857,271,000 after purchasing an additional 840,559 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Altria Group by 1.9% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,856,051 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,596,257,000 after buying an additional 671,929 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 5.1% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 24,517,169 shares of the company’s stock worth $990,002,000 after buying an additional 1,192,266 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 108,222.5% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 18,590,308 shares of the company’s stock valued at $849,763,000 after acquiring an additional 18,573,146 shares in the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Monday. UBS Group reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $36.10 target price on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.82.

Altria Group Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of Altria Group stock traded down $0.04 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $43.62. 9,805,972 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,809,103. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $41.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.54. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $39.06 and a one year high of $48.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $76.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.65.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $5.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.06 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 33.21% and a negative return on equity of 244.55%. The firm’s revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.18 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 85.78%.

Altria Group declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, February 1st that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.