Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Stake Lowered by TCI Wealth Advisors Inc.

TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 15.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 7,554 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,395 shares during the quarter. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $305,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on MO. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Monday, March 25th. StockNews.com downgraded Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, April 14th. Finally, UBS Group increased 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. 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.90.

Altria Group Price Performance

NYSE MO traded down $0.12 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $43.47. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,089,791 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,805,574. The company has a market cap of $74.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.66. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $39.06 and a 12 month high of $46.82. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $42.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.49.

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

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 25th were given a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.02%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.01%.

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

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.