Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Has $669,000 Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI increased its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 13.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 16,580 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,966 shares during the quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $669,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MO. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 54.1% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,710,670 shares of the company’s stock valued at $198,084,000 after acquiring an additional 1,653,455 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 17.0% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 9,259,451 shares of the company’s stock valued at $373,526,000 after acquiring an additional 1,343,094 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 305,996.5% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,316,215 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,347,000 after acquiring an additional 1,315,785 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group in the 4th quarter valued at $525,810,000. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 19.1% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 6,464,930 shares of the company’s stock valued at $271,850,000 after acquiring an additional 1,038,408 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Altria Group Stock Down 0.4 %

NYSE MO opened at $43.38 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $74.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.08, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.65. Altria Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $39.06 and a twelve month high of $48.04. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.46.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 222.80% and a net margin of 34.81%. The business had revenue of $4.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.18 earnings per share. Altria Group’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, February 1st that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to purchase up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm 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 $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.01%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on MO shares. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price target on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Monday, March 25th. StockNews.com downgraded Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, April 14th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.90.

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.