Vicus Capital Trims Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Vicus Capital lessened its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 7.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 6,382 shares of the company’s stock after selling 529 shares during the quarter. Vicus Capital’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $257,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MO. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in 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 during the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its position in Altria Group by 84.1% in the second quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 5,426,522 shares of the company’s stock worth $245,823,000 after buying an additional 2,478,576 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Altria Group by 6.4% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 36,302,349 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,896,798,000 after buying an additional 2,178,596 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Altria Group by 54.1% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,710,670 shares of the company’s stock worth $198,084,000 after buying an additional 1,653,455 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its position in Altria Group by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 17,105,285 shares of the company’s stock worth $781,883,000 after buying an additional 1,531,337 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on MO shares. StockNews.com cut Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 14th. UBS Group upped their price target on Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price target 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 given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Altria Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.90.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MO traded up $0.79 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $42.09. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 22,325,582 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,630,883. The firm has a market capitalization of $72.30 billion, a PE ratio of 9.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.65. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $41.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.43. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.06 and a 52 week high of $48.04.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $5.02 billion during 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 business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.18 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The business 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. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.31%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 85.78%.

Altria Group announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, February 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often 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.