Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Shares Down 0.2% Following Insider Selling

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) fell 0.2% during mid-day trading on Monday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $43.46 and last traded at $43.50. 2,186,305 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 11,766,087 shares. The stock had previously closed at $43.59.

Specifically, VP Charles N. Whitaker sold 22,487 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.95, for a total value of $988,303.65. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 173,485 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,624,665.75. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MO. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Monday, March 25th. UBS Group raised their target price on Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.90.

Altria Group Stock Down 0.2 %

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $42.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.49. The stock has a market cap of $74.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.66.

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

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 25th were given a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.01%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 82.01%.

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

Institutional Trading of Altria Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position 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 valued at $1,857,271,000 after acquiring an additional 840,559 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Altria Group by 0.3% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,609,568 shares of the company’s stock worth $698,432,000 after buying an additional 42,490 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in Altria Group by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 13,279,658 shares of the company’s stock worth $535,701,000 after buying an additional 242,442 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Altria Group by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 9,259,451 shares of the company’s stock worth $373,526,000 after buying an additional 1,343,094 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in Altria Group by 8.5% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 9,174,355 shares of the company’s stock worth $381,278,000 after buying an additional 722,258 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.