RIA Advisory Group LLC Sells 8,391 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

RIA Advisory Group LLC reduced its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 22.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 28,358 shares of the company’s stock after selling 8,391 shares during the period. RIA Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,144,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MO. Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake 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 in 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 purchasing an additional 929 shares during the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P bought a new position in Altria Group in the 1st quarter valued at $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 purchasing an additional 89,334 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Western Trust Bank bought a new position in Altria Group in the 1st quarter valued at $498,000. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Altria Group Stock Up 1.9 %

NYSE MO traded up $0.79 on Friday, reaching $42.09. The company had a trading volume of 18,781,168 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,824,205. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.06 and a 52 week high of $48.04. The stock has a market cap of $72.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.23, a PEG ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.65. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $41.87 and its 200-day moving average is $41.42.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $5.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.06 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.18 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.09 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.31%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 85.78%.

Altria Group declared that its board has authorized 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 repurchase up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on MO shares. StockNews.com downgraded Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 14th. UBS Group boosted their target price 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, Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Monday, March 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.90.

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.