GHP Investment Advisors Inc. Has $105,000 Stock Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

GHP Investment Advisors Inc. lessened its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 11.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,597 shares of the company’s stock after selling 337 shares during the quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $105,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MO. Sei Investments Co. raised its position in Altria Group by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 404,894 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,248,000 after buying an additional 6,324 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Altria Group by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 18,647 shares of the company’s stock valued at $974,000 after buying an additional 929 shares during the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P acquired a new stake in Altria Group in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its position in Altria Group by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,711,773 shares of the company’s stock valued at $141,690,000 after buying an additional 89,334 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Western Trust Bank acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group during the 1st quarter worth approximately $498,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on MO. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Monday, March 25th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Altria Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.90.

Altria Group Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $41.05 on Friday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $39.06 and a 12 month high of $48.04. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $41.82 and a 200-day moving average of $41.45. The company has a market capitalization of $70.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.65.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $5.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.06 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.18 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.55%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 85.78%.

Altria Group declared that its Board of Directors has approved 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 repurchase up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.