Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Shares Sold by Allstate Corp

Allstate Corp lowered its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 13.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,219 shares of the company’s stock after selling 832 shares during the period. Allstate Corp’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $211,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 1.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 44,456,064 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,857,271,000 after purchasing an additional 840,559 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Altria Group by 0.3% in the 3rd 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 during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in Altria Group by 17.0% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 9,259,451 shares of the company’s stock valued at $373,526,000 after acquiring an additional 1,343,094 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in Altria Group by 8.5% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 9,174,355 shares of the company’s stock valued at $381,278,000 after acquiring an additional 722,258 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its position in Altria Group by 19.1% in the 3rd 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MO. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a report 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 price objective on Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. One 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, Altria Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.90.

Altria Group Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:MO traded down $0.06 during trading on Friday, hitting $45.58. 1,318,879 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,502,722. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $43.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.89. The company has a market cap of $78.29 billion, a PE ratio of 9.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.66. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.06 and a 12-month high of $46.60.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.15. The business had revenue of $4.72 billion for 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.18 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.60%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.01%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Altria Group

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

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.