Sage Investment Advisers LLC Takes Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Sage Investment Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 5,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $225,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 1.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 44,456,064 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,857,271,000 after purchasing an additional 840,559 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 0.3% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,609,568 shares of the company’s stock valued at $698,432,000 after acquiring an additional 42,490 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 17.0% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 9,259,451 shares of the company’s stock valued at $373,526,000 after purchasing an additional 1,343,094 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 8.5% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 9,174,355 shares of the company’s stock valued at $381,278,000 after purchasing an additional 722,258 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its stake in Altria Group by 19.1% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 6,464,930 shares of the company’s stock worth $271,850,000 after acquiring an additional 1,038,408 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Altria Group

In other news, VP Charles N. Whitaker sold 22,487 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.95, for a total transaction of $988,303.65. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 173,485 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,624,665.75. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Stock Performance

NYSE MO traded up $0.44 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $44.29. 9,893,448 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,827,175. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $42.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.50. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $39.06 and a 1 year high of $46.67. The stock has a market cap of $76.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.66.

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

Altria Group announced that its board has initiated a share 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 reacquire up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 25th were given a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 82.01%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.