Sage Investment Advisers LLC Buys New Stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Sage Investment Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 5,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $225,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MO. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new position in Altria Group in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 103.2% during the third quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 636 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 323 shares during the period. ZRC Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 67.6% during the fourth quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC now owns 677 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 273 shares during the period. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 1,800.0% during the third quarter. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. now owns 703 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 666 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on MO. StockNews.com lowered shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, April 14th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price target on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.90.

Altria Group Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of MO traded up $0.44 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $44.29. The stock had a trading volume of 9,893,448 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,827,175. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.50. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $39.06 and a one year high of $46.67. The firm has a market cap of $76.07 billion, a PE ratio of 9.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.66.

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

Altria Group Announces Dividend

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

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Charles N. Whitaker sold 22,487 shares of Altria Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.95, for a total transaction of $988,303.65. Following the completion of 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.