Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Stock Holdings Lowered by Intrust Bank NA

Intrust Bank NA lessened its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 7.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,980 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,542 shares during the period. Intrust Bank NA’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $806,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MO. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 54.1% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,710,670 shares of the company’s stock worth $198,084,000 after purchasing an additional 1,653,455 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted 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 during the period. Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 305,996.5% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,316,215 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,347,000 after acquiring an additional 1,315,785 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $525,810,000. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 19.1% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 6,464,930 shares of the company’s stock valued at $271,850,000 after acquiring an additional 1,038,408 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Altria Group Stock Down 0.0 %

MO opened at $43.81 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $75.25 billion, a PE ratio of 9.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.65. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.47. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.06 and a fifty-two week high of $48.04.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15. The business had revenue of $4.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.71 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 222.80% and a net margin of 34.81%. Altria Group’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.18 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 25th were issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 is currently 82.01%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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