PDS Planning Inc Trims Stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

PDS Planning Inc reduced its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 10.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 8,622 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,027 shares during the period. PDS Planning Inc’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $348,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new position in Altria Group in the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC grew its stake in Altria Group by 103.2% in the 3rd quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 636 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 323 shares in the last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Altria Group in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. ZRC Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Altria Group by 67.6% in the 4th quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC now owns 677 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 273 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Altria Group in the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. 57.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MO. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Monday, March 25th. UBS Group increased 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. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Altria Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.90.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE MO traded up $0.33 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $42.90. 4,519,559 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,760,964. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $41.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.43. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $39.06 and a one year high of $48.04. The company has a market cap of $73.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.65.

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

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 25th will be paid a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.14%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 85.78%.

Altria Group announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, February 1st that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.