Davis R M Inc. Grows Stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Davis R M Inc. grew its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 13.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,300 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,079 shares during the quarter. Davis R M Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $375,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new position in Altria Group during the third quarter valued at $26,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC increased its holdings in Altria Group by 103.2% in the third quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 636 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 323 shares in the last quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Altria Group by 67.6% in the fourth quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC now owns 677 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 273 shares in the last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Altria Group in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Altria Group by 1,800.0% in the third quarter. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. now owns 703 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 666 shares in the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Altria Group news, VP Charles N. Whitaker sold 22,487 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.95, for a total value of $988,303.65. Following the sale, the vice president now directly 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 SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.09% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MO has been the subject of a number of research reports. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Monday, March 25th. StockNews.com cut shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 14th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective 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 equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Altria Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.90.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of MO stock traded down $0.56 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $45.76. The company had a trading volume of 1,421,816 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,512,655. The company’s fifty day moving average is $43.51 and its 200 day moving average is $41.86. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.06 and a fifty-two week high of $46.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $78.60 billion, a PE ratio of 9.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.66.

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

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

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.57%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.01%.

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.