Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Shares Sold by Capital Investment Advisors LLC

Capital Investment Advisors LLC decreased its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 585,630 shares of the company’s stock after selling 10,687 shares during the quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $30,623,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. AGF Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,351,000. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 163.6% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 50,862 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,317,000 after purchasing an additional 31,568 shares in the last quarter. 1ST Source Bank raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 14.0% during the 2nd quarter. 1ST Source Bank now owns 6,074 shares of the company’s stock worth $277,000 after purchasing an additional 747 shares during the last quarter. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Altria Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,428,000. Finally, Wealthspire Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 63.4% in the 2nd quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 54,550 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,485,000 after buying an additional 21,163 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MO. Barclays raised their price objective on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup boosted their target price on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Bank of America raised Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.33.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MO traded down $0.06 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $50.81. 1,682,089 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,083,547. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $54.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $51.84. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $39.25 and a 1 year high of $58.03. The firm has a market cap of $86.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.58, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.64.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.03. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 233.80% and a net margin of 42.82%. The company had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.33 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.28 EPS. Altria Group’s revenue was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were given a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.03%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 26th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.92%.

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.