UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp Has $227,000 Stock Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp raised its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 5.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,630 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the quarter. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $227,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 2.5% during the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 63,009 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,650,000 after buying an additional 1,521 shares in the last quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Altria Group in the third quarter valued at about $495,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 6.1% during the third quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 4,126,996 shares of the company’s stock worth $169,743,000 after acquiring an additional 238,450 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC grew its stake in Altria Group by 7.9% in the third quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 9,244 shares of the company’s stock valued at $389,000 after acquiring an additional 677 shares during the period. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 3.1% during the third quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 11,975 shares of the company’s stock worth $504,000 after purchasing an additional 356 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Altria Group Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE MO traded up $0.36 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $43.85. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 10,992,541 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,837,346. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $75.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.15, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.66. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.06 and a fifty-two week high of $46.82.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.15. The firm had revenue of $4.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.71 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 34.81% and a negative return on equity of 222.80%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.18 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, February 1st that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 25th were given a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 82.01%.

Insider Transactions at Altria Group

In other Altria Group news, VP Charles N. Whitaker sold 22,487 shares of Altria Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.95, for a total transaction of $988,303.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 173,485 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,624,665.75. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on MO. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 14th. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, Altria Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.90.

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.