RIA Advisory Group LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

RIA Advisory Group LLC lowered its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 22.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 28,358 shares of the company’s stock after selling 8,391 shares during the quarter. RIA Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,144,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Altria Group by 1.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 44,456,064 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,857,271,000 after acquiring 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 valued at $1,596,257,000 after acquiring an additional 671,929 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in 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 valued at $990,002,000 after acquiring an additional 1,192,266 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Altria Group by 108,222.5% in 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its stake in Altria Group by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 17,105,285 shares of the company’s stock valued at $781,883,000 after purchasing an additional 1,531,337 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Stock Performance

MO traded up $0.79 during trading on Friday, hitting $42.09. The stock had a trading volume of 18,781,168 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,824,205. The firm has a market capitalization of $72.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.23, a PEG ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.65. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $41.87 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.42. Altria Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $39.06 and a twelve month high of $48.04.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $5.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.06 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 33.21% and a negative return on equity of 244.55%. The business’s revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.18 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, February 1st that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 25th will be given a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.31%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 85.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on MO shares. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of 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 reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, April 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.90.

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.