Obermeyer Wood Investment Counsel Lllp Decreases Stock Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Obermeyer Wood Investment Counsel Lllp lowered its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 48.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,402 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,101 shares during the period. Obermeyer Wood Investment Counsel Lllp’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $218,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 44,456,064 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,857,271,000 after purchasing an additional 840,559 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Altria Group by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,856,051 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,596,257,000 after buying an additional 671,929 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Altria Group by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 24,517,169 shares of the company’s stock worth $990,002,000 after buying an additional 1,192,266 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Altria Group by 108,222.5% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 18,590,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $849,763,000 after buying an additional 18,573,146 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its position in Altria Group by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 17,105,285 shares of the company’s stock worth $781,883,000 after buying an additional 1,531,337 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MO. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Monday, March 25th. StockNews.com lowered Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 14th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. One 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.90.

Altria Group Stock Up 1.0 %

MO stock traded up $0.43 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $41.73. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,229,591 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,590,009. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $39.06 and a 12 month high of $48.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $71.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a 50 day moving average of $41.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.42.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $5.02 billion during 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.18 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 25th will be given a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.39%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 85.78%.

About Altria Group

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.