Howe & Rusling Inc. Sells 101,338 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Howe & Rusling Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 85.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 16,734 shares of the company’s stock after selling 101,338 shares during the period. Howe & Rusling Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $675,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MO. Vicus Capital raised its position in Altria Group by 34.8% in the third quarter. Vicus Capital now owns 6,911 shares of the company’s stock worth $291,000 after purchasing an additional 1,786 shares in the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC raised its position in Altria Group by 3.4% in the third quarter. SVB Wealth LLC now owns 31,357 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,319,000 after purchasing an additional 1,026 shares in the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Altria Group in the third quarter worth about $288,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its position in Altria Group by 8.8% in the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 431,832 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,159,000 after purchasing an additional 34,786 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 5.1% during the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 1,198,310 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,389,000 after buying an additional 57,733 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. StockNews.com cut shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Monday, March 25th. One equities 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Altria Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.90.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $43.82 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $42.39 and its 200-day moving average is $41.49. The stock has a market cap of $75.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.66. Altria Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $39.06 and a twelve month high of $47.71.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.15. The business had revenue of $4.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.71 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 34.81% and a negative return on equity of 222.80%. The firm’s revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.18 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate 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. Investors of record on Monday, March 25th were given a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.95%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 82.01%.

Altria Group announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, February 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Altria Group 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.