Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas Reduces Stock Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas cut its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 69,309 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,854 shares during the quarter. Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas’ holdings in Altria Group were worth $2,796,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MO. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 44,456,064 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,857,271,000 after acquiring an additional 840,559 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,609,568 shares of the company’s stock worth $698,432,000 after acquiring an additional 42,490 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 17.0% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 9,259,451 shares of the company’s stock worth $373,526,000 after acquiring an additional 1,343,094 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 8.5% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 9,174,355 shares of the company’s stock worth $381,278,000 after acquiring an additional 722,258 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 19.1% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 6,464,930 shares of the company’s stock worth $271,850,000 after acquiring an additional 1,038,408 shares in the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Altria Group Price Performance

NYSE:MO remained flat at $42.87 during midday trading on Wednesday. The company had a trading volume of 3,174,272 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,833,423. Altria Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $39.06 and a twelve month high of $48.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $73.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.65. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $42.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.44.

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

Altria Group announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, February 1st that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.14%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 85.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group lifted 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. StockNews.com lowered Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Monday, March 25th. One 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.