Mission Wealth Management LP Sells 4,359 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Mission Wealth Management LP lowered its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 10.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 39,002 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,359 shares during the period. Mission Wealth Management LP’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,573,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MO. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 4,665.6% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,972,259 shares of the company’s stock worth $160,241,000 after acquiring an additional 3,888,907 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased 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 acquiring an additional 1,653,455 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake 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. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in Altria Group by 305,996.5% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,316,215 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,347,000 after purchasing an additional 1,315,785 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Altria Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $525,810,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Price Performance

MO stock opened at $43.81 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $42.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.47. The company has a market capitalization of $75.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.17, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.65. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $39.06 and a 1-year high of $48.04.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.15 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $4.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.18 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 25th were given a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.95%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 82.01%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on MO shares. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective 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 report on Sunday, April 14th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.