Welch & Forbes LLC Lowers Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Welch & Forbes LLC trimmed its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 2.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,115 shares of the company’s stock after selling 691 shares during the period. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $932,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group in the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 103.2% during the third quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 636 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 323 shares during the last quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 67.6% during the fourth quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC now owns 677 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 273 shares in the last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Altria Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Altria Group by 1,800.0% in the 3rd quarter. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. now owns 703 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 666 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Charles N. Whitaker sold 22,487 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.95, for a total transaction of $988,303.65. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 173,485 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,624,665.75. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.09% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MO. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Monday, March 25th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, April 14th. One investment 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 MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.90.

Altria Group Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE MO traded up $0.48 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $44.33. The stock had a trading volume of 3,335,449 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,748,559. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $39.06 and a 52-week high of $46.67. The firm has a market cap of $76.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.66. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $42.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.50.

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

Altria Group declared that its board has approved 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 purchase up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 25th were given a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s payout ratio is presently 82.01%.

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.