TRUE Private Wealth Advisors Lowers Stock Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

TRUE Private Wealth Advisors reduced its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 7.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,390 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,218 shares during the quarter. TRUE Private Wealth Advisors’ holdings in Altria Group were worth $580,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MO. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P acquired a new position in Altria Group during the first quarter worth $25,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new position in Altria Group during the third quarter worth $26,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC raised its holdings in Altria Group by 103.2% during the third quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 636 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares during the last quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Altria Group by 67.6% during the fourth quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC now owns 677 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 273 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Altria Group during the third quarter worth $30,000. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:MO opened at $41.09 on Thursday. The business has a fifty 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. The company has a market cap of $70.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.65.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced 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. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 244.55% and a net margin of 33.21%. The company had revenue of $5.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.06 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.18 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 25th will be paid a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.54%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 85.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MO has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group lifted their price objective 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 reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.90.

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.