Washington Trust Advisors Inc. Cuts Stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Washington Trust Advisors Inc. decreased its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 5.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 13,218 shares of the company’s stock after selling 800 shares during the period. Washington Trust Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $533,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sei Investments Co. increased its position in Altria Group by 1.6% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 404,894 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,248,000 after buying an additional 6,324 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Altria Group by 5.2% during the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 18,647 shares of the company’s stock worth $974,000 after purchasing an additional 929 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,711,773 shares of the company’s stock valued at $141,690,000 after buying an additional 89,334 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Western Trust Bank bought a new position in Altria Group in the 1st quarter worth approximately $498,000. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group restated a “sell” rating and set a $36.10 target price on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.82.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of Altria Group stock traded up $0.10 during trading on Thursday, hitting $43.76. 4,468,984 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,716,633. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $41.34 and its 200-day moving average is $41.53. The stock has a market cap of $77.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.58, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.65. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.06 and a 52 week high of $48.04.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $5.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.06 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 33.21% and a negative return on equity of 244.55%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.18 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 yield of 8.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 85.78%.

Altria Group declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, February 1st that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are 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.