Gray Wealth Management Inc. Sells 2,614 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Gray Wealth Management Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 11.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 20,818 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,614 shares during the period. Gray Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $840,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC lifted its stake in Altria Group by 103.2% during the 3rd quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 636 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 323 shares in the last quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 67.6% during the 4th quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC now owns 677 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 273 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Altria Group by 1,800.0% in the 3rd quarter. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. now owns 703 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 666 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group upped their price objective on Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.90.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.5 %

NYSE:MO traded up $0.20 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $41.30. The company had a trading volume of 14,718,352 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,693,406. The company has a market capitalization of $70.94 billion, a PE ratio of 9.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.65. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $39.06 and a 52-week high of $48.04. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $41.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.43.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $5.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.06 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 244.55% and a net margin of 33.21%. The company’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 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 25th will be paid a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.49%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 85.78%.

Altria Group declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, February 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

About Altria Group

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.