Aviance Capital Partners LLC Sells 5,109 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Aviance Capital Partners LLC lessened its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 12.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 37,510 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,109 shares during the period. Aviance Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,513,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MO. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 21.3% in the fourth quarter. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,719 shares of the company’s stock worth $110,000 after buying an additional 477 shares during the period. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,000. KPP Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the third quarter worth $3,128,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 293.6% during the 3rd 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 during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,011,345 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,727,000 after buying an additional 4,789 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Altria Group Stock Down 0.2 %

NYSE MO traded down $0.10 on Monday, reaching $43.49. The company had a trading volume of 9,025,462 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,846,990. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $42.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.49. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $39.06 and a 12 month high of $46.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $74.70 billion, a PE ratio of 9.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.66.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.15. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 222.80% and a net margin of 34.81%. The firm had revenue of $4.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.18 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 25th were given 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 dividend yield of 9.01%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 82.01%.

Altria Group declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, February 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Altria Group

In other news, VP Charles N. Whitaker sold 22,487 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.95, for a total value of $988,303.65. Following 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.