Yousif Capital Management LLC Sells 10,435 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Yousif Capital Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 5.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 176,322 shares of the company’s stock after selling 10,435 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $7,113,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 21.3% during the fourth quarter. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,719 shares of the company’s stock valued at $110,000 after purchasing an additional 477 shares in the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. KPP Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $3,128,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 293.6% during the third quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 55,546 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,336,000 after purchasing an additional 41,432 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,011,345 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,727,000 after purchasing an additional 4,789 shares in the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Altria Group Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE MO opened at $43.02 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.45. The stock has a market cap of $73.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.65. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.06 and a 12-month high of $48.04.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15. The business had revenue of $4.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.71 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 33.21% and a negative return on equity of 244.55%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.18 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, February 1st that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 25th will be issued a $0.98 dividend. 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 9.11%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 85.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 14th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Monday, March 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.90.

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.