Strs Ohio Reduces Stock Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Strs Ohio trimmed its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 1.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 569,472 shares of the company’s stock after selling 9,186 shares during the period. Strs Ohio’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $22,972,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in Altria Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $4,312,000. MV Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Altria Group by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,028 shares of the company’s stock valued at $243,000 after purchasing an additional 315 shares during the last quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC grew its stake in Altria Group by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 23,049 shares of the company’s stock valued at $930,000 after purchasing an additional 685 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC grew its stake in Altria Group by 101.0% during the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 56,191 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,267,000 after purchasing an additional 28,241 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Wealth LLC grew its stake in Altria Group by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 40,966 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,653,000 after purchasing an additional 969 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MO. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a report on Monday, March 25th. StockNews.com cut Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday. Finally, UBS Group boosted 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 given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.90.

Altria Group Trading Down 0.2 %

NYSE MO opened at $40.95 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $70.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.96, a PEG ratio of 2.47 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 50-day moving average of $41.83 and a 200 day moving average of $41.44.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $5.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.06 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 244.55% and a net margin of 33.21%. Altria Group’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.18 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, February 1st that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to buy up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.57%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 85.78%.

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.