Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Shares Sold by ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC

ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC decreased its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 16.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 165,121 shares of the company’s stock after selling 31,812 shares during the quarter. ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $6,661,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MO. SVB Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 3.4% in the third quarter. SVB Wealth LLC now owns 31,357 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,319,000 after buying an additional 1,026 shares in the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $288,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 8.8% in the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 431,832 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,159,000 after purchasing an additional 34,786 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 5.1% during the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 1,198,310 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,389,000 after buying an additional 57,733 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. grew its position in Altria Group by 7.5% during the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 55,203 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,321,000 after buying an additional 3,873 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of MO stock traded down $0.39 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $43.59. The company had a trading volume of 11,228,966 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,736,930. Altria Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $39.06 and a twelve month high of $46.86. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $42.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.51. The company has a market capitalization of $74.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.66.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.15. The business had revenue of $4.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.71 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 222.80% and a net margin of 34.81%. The company’s revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.18 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 25th were given a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.99%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 82.01%.

Altria Group announced that its Board of Directors has authorized 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 repurchase up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.