IFG Advisory LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

IFG Advisory LLC trimmed its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 6.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,439 shares of the company’s stock after selling 872 shares during the quarter. IFG Advisory LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $542,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MO. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 108,222.5% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 18,590,308 shares of the company’s stock valued at $849,763,000 after acquiring an additional 18,573,146 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 84.1% during the 2nd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 5,426,522 shares of the company’s stock valued at $245,823,000 after buying an additional 2,478,576 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 6.4% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 36,302,349 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,896,798,000 after buying an additional 2,178,596 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,653,455 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 17,105,285 shares of the company’s stock valued at $781,883,000 after buying an additional 1,531,337 shares in the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a report on Monday. StockNews.com raised Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $36.10 price target on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.82.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MO opened at $43.62 on Friday. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.06 and a fifty-two week high of $48.04. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $41.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.54. The firm has a market cap of $76.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.65.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.01. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 244.55% and a net margin of 33.21%. The business had revenue of $5.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.06 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.18 EPS. Altria Group’s revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, February 1st that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 25th will be given a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.99%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s payout ratio is currently 85.78%.

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.