Oak Thistle LLC Has $590,000 Stock Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Oak Thistle LLC lessened its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 78.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,531 shares of the company’s stock after selling 50,336 shares during the quarter. Oak Thistle LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $590,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Altria Group by 154.4% during the 1st quarter. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 575 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 349 shares during the period. Westend Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Altria Group during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $29,000. ZRC Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Altria Group by 67.6% during the 4th quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC now owns 677 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 273 shares during the period. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Altria Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Altria Group by 1,800.0% during the 3rd quarter. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. now owns 703 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 666 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:MO traded up $0.48 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $46.03. The company had a trading volume of 7,065,983 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,222,710. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $39.06 and a 12 month high of $47.19. The stock has a market cap of $79.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.63, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.66. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $45.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.75.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting 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 business had revenue of $4.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.71 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.18 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

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 is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.52%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 82.01%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on MO. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Argus upgraded Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. UBS Group raised their price objective on Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Altria Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.90.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Altria Group news, VP Charles N. Whitaker sold 22,487 shares of Altria Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.95, for a total value 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

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.