Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC Has $2.02 Million Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC lowered its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 17.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 49,970 shares of the company’s stock after selling 10,582 shares during the period. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $2,016,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 worth $1,857,271,000 after purchasing an additional 840,559 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 671,929 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased 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 purchasing an additional 1,192,266 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 worth $849,763,000 after purchasing an additional 18,573,146 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,531,337 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Stock Up 1.9 %

MO traded up $0.79 during trading on Friday, reaching $42.09. 22,325,582 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,630,883. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.06 and a fifty-two week high of $48.04. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $41.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.43. The company has a market capitalization of $72.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.21, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.65.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $5.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.18 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.09 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, February 1st that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to purchase up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.