Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. Has $421,000 Stock Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 21.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,432 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,792 shares during the quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $421,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MO. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted 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 buying an additional 840,559 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 0.3% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,609,568 shares of the company’s stock valued at $698,432,000 after purchasing an additional 42,490 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 9,259,451 shares of the company’s stock worth $373,526,000 after purchasing an additional 1,343,094 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Altria Group by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 9,174,355 shares of the company’s stock valued at $381,278,000 after purchasing an additional 722,258 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its position in Altria Group by 19.1% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 6,464,930 shares of the company’s stock worth $271,850,000 after buying an additional 1,038,408 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of MO stock traded up $0.05 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $42.92. The company had a trading volume of 5,407,793 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,861,269. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $42.00 and its 200 day moving average is $41.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $73.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.39, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.65. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $39.06 and a 12 month high of $48.04.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.01. Altria Group had a net margin of 33.21% and a negative return on equity of 244.55%. 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 firm earned $1.18 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, February 1st that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 is Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.13%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 85.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MO shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 14th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average 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.