Calamos Advisors LLC Lowers Stock Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Calamos Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 457,796 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,212 shares during the quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $18,467,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 1.9% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,856,051 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,596,257,000 after purchasing an additional 671,929 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 24,517,169 shares of the company’s stock worth $990,002,000 after purchasing an additional 1,192,266 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 108,222.5% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 18,590,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $849,763,000 after purchasing an additional 18,573,146 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 17,105,285 shares of the company’s stock worth $781,883,000 after purchasing an additional 1,531,337 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on MO shares. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price target on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Monday, March 25th. UBS Group boosted their target price 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 lowered Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Altria Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.90.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of Altria Group stock traded up $0.36 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $41.66. 996,068 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,587,104. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $41.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $71.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.65. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $39.06 and a one year high of $48.04.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $5.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.06 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 244.55% and a net margin of 33.21%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.18 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.41%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 85.78%.

Altria Group declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, February 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.