Welch & Forbes LLC Has $932,000 Stock Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Welch & Forbes LLC cut its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 2.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 23,115 shares of the company’s stock after selling 691 shares during the quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $932,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in Altria Group by 4,665.6% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,972,259 shares of the company’s stock worth $160,241,000 after purchasing an additional 3,888,907 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Altria Group by 54.1% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,710,670 shares of the company’s stock valued at $198,084,000 after purchasing an additional 1,653,455 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Altria Group by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 9,259,451 shares of the company’s stock worth $373,526,000 after purchasing an additional 1,343,094 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 305,996.5% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,316,215 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,347,000 after purchasing an additional 1,315,785 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Altria Group in the fourth quarter valued at $525,810,000. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Charles N. Whitaker sold 22,487 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.95, for a total value of $988,303.65. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 173,485 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,624,665.75. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on MO shares. UBS Group raised their target price on Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. StockNews.com cut Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed 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 given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.90.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of Altria Group stock traded up $0.48 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $44.33. 3,335,449 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,748,559. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $42.62 and a 200-day moving average of $41.50. The company has a market cap of $76.14 billion, a PE ratio of 9.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.66. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $39.06 and a 12 month high of $46.67.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its earnings results 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 during 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%. The business’s revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.18 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 25th were issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.84%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 82.01%.

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.