Summit Trail Advisors LLC Decreases Stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Summit Trail Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 45.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,496 shares of the company’s stock after selling 8,731 shares during the period. Summit Trail Advisors LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $434,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 103.2% in the third quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 636 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares during the last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Altria Group in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. ZRC Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Altria Group by 67.6% during the 4th quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC now owns 677 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 273 shares during the period. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 666 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Altria Group

In related news, VP Charles N. Whitaker sold 22,487 shares of Altria Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.95, for a total value of $988,303.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 173,485 shares in the company, valued at $7,624,665.75. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Altria Group Price Performance

Altria Group stock opened at $43.98 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.50. The stock has a market cap of $75.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.66. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $39.06 and a 1-year high of $46.67.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.15. The firm had revenue of $4.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.71 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 34.81% and a negative return on equity of 222.80%. Altria Group’s revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.18 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, February 1st that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 25th were paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 82.01%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on MO shares. UBS Group raised their price target 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. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price target on shares of Altria Group in a report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock 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.