Wealth Alliance Decreases Stock Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Wealth Alliance lowered its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 4.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,684 shares of the company’s stock after selling 424 shares during the quarter. Wealth Alliance’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $350,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group in the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new position in Altria Group in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 103.2% in the third quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 636 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 323 shares during the period. ZRC Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Altria Group by 67.6% in the fourth quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC now owns 677 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 273 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on MO shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, April 14th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Monday, March 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.90.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of Altria Group stock opened at $41.26 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $70.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.03, a PEG ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.65. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $41.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.42. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.06 and a 52 week high of $48.04.

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

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 25th will be given a dividend of $0.98 per share. 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 9.50%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is 85.78%.

Altria Group announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, February 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.