PDS Planning Inc Sells 1,027 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

PDS Planning Inc reduced its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 10.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,622 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,027 shares during the period. PDS Planning Inc’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $348,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. RFG Advisory LLC raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 4.8% in the third quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 11,846 shares of the company’s stock worth $498,000 after buying an additional 542 shares in the last quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 48.8% in the third quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,044 shares of the company’s stock worth $380,000 after buying an additional 2,964 shares in the last quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 11.3% in the third quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,934 shares of the company’s stock worth $125,000 after buying an additional 299 shares in the last quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 666.7% in the third quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,725 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,000 after buying an additional 1,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal Fund Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the third quarter worth $213,000. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group increased their price objective on Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.90.

Altria Group Price Performance

NYSE MO traded up $0.33 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $42.90. 4,519,559 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,760,964. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.43. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $39.06 and a 1 year high of $48.04. The company has a market cap of $73.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.65.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $5.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.06 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 244.55% and a net margin of 33.21%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.18 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 25th will be issued a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.14%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 85.78%.

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