Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Shares Sold by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund trimmed its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 7.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,744,200 shares of the company’s stock after selling 205,100 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned approximately 0.16% of Altria Group worth $110,701,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 21.3% in the fourth quarter. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,719 shares of the company’s stock worth $110,000 after acquiring an additional 477 shares in the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,000. KPP Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the third quarter worth $3,128,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Altria Group by 293.6% during the 3rd quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 55,546 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,336,000 after acquiring an additional 41,432 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in Altria Group by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,011,345 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,727,000 after acquiring an additional 4,789 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MO. UBS Group upped their target price 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 restated a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, April 14th. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.90.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of Altria Group stock traded up $0.33 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $42.90. 4,519,559 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,760,964. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $41.95 and its 200 day moving average is $41.43. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $39.06 and a 12 month high of $48.04. The stock has a market cap of $73.69 billion, a PE ratio of 9.38, a P/E/G 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, 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 business had revenue of $5.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.06 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.18 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 85.78%.

Altria Group declared that its board has approved a stock 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 reacquire up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are 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.