ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC Sells 31,812 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC cut its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 16.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 165,121 shares of the company’s stock after selling 31,812 shares during the period. ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $6,661,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MO. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Altria Group by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 5,751 shares of the company’s stock worth $232,000 after buying an additional 424 shares during the last quarter. Sapient Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Altria Group during the 4th quarter worth about $11,144,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Altria Group by 13.9% in the fourth quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 63,269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,552,000 after buying an additional 7,723 shares during the period. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 63.5% in the 4th quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 282,876 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,411,000 after buying an additional 109,914 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management grew its position in Altria Group by 15.2% during the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 4,681,943 shares of the company’s stock valued at $188,870,000 after buying an additional 617,900 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on MO. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price target on shares of Altria Group in a report on Monday, March 25th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.90.

Altria Group Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:MO traded down $0.39 on Friday, reaching $43.59. 11,228,966 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,736,930. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.06 and a 52 week high of $46.86. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $42.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $74.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.66.

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

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 25th were issued a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.99%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.01%.

Altria Group announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, February 1st that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.