Telemus Capital LLC Cuts Stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Telemus Capital LLC reduced its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 5.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 11,017 shares of the company’s stock after selling 587 shares during the quarter. Telemus Capital LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $444,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Duality Advisers LP boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 19.3% in the 4th quarter. Duality Advisers LP now owns 27,192 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,097,000 after buying an additional 4,395 shares during the last quarter. MCF Advisors LLC raised its stake in Altria Group by 52.5% in the 4th quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 11,398 shares of the company’s stock valued at $469,000 after acquiring an additional 3,925 shares during the period. CWM LLC raised its stake in Altria Group by 22.2% in the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 220,511 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,895,000 after acquiring an additional 40,075 shares during the period. Capital Management Corp VA raised its stake in Altria Group by 82.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital Management Corp VA now owns 249,032 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,046,000 after acquiring an additional 112,229 shares during the period. Finally, Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Altria Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. 57.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Altria Group Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of MO opened at $42.57 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $41.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.43. Altria Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $39.06 and a twelve month high of $48.04. The stock has a market cap of $73.12 billion, a PE ratio of 9.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.65.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $5.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.06 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.18 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, February 1st that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s management 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 85.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com cut Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 14th. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Monday, March 25th. 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 note on Monday, April 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.90.

About Altria Group

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.