Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Holdings Lowered by Key Financial Inc

Key Financial Inc lowered its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 24.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,998 shares of the company’s stock after selling 968 shares during the period. Key Financial Inc’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $121,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MO. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 108,222.5% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 18,590,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $849,763,000 after purchasing an additional 18,573,146 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 84.1% in the 2nd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 5,426,522 shares of the company’s stock worth $245,823,000 after purchasing an additional 2,478,576 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 6.4% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 36,302,349 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,896,798,000 after purchasing an additional 2,178,596 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 54.1% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,710,670 shares of the company’s stock worth $198,084,000 after purchasing an additional 1,653,455 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 17,105,285 shares of the company’s stock worth $781,883,000 after purchasing an additional 1,531,337 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Stock Performance

MO stock opened at $41.14 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $70.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.65. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.43. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.06 and a 52 week high of $48.04.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $5.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.06 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 33.21% and a negative return on equity of 244.55%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.18 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.09 EPS for the current year.

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 issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 85.78%.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

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