Community Bank N.A. Sells 824 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Community Bank N.A. lessened its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 18.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 3,537 shares of the company’s stock after selling 824 shares during the period. Community Bank N.A.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $143,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake 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 valued at $1,857,271,000 after acquiring an additional 840,559 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Altria Group by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,609,568 shares of the company’s stock valued at $698,432,000 after purchasing an additional 42,490 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in Altria Group by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 9,259,451 shares of the company’s stock valued at $373,526,000 after purchasing an additional 1,343,094 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in Altria Group by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 9,174,355 shares of the company’s stock valued at $381,278,000 after purchasing an additional 722,258 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its position in Altria Group by 19.1% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 6,464,930 shares of the company’s stock valued at $271,850,000 after purchasing an additional 1,038,408 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 14th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, UBS Group upped 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. One investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.90.

Altria Group Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of MO stock traded up $0.34 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $43.26. 8,110,169 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,907,979. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $39.06 and a 1 year high of $48.04. The company’s 50 day moving average is $42.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.45. The firm has a market cap of $74.30 billion, a PE ratio of 9.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.65.

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 244.55% and a net margin of 33.21%. The company had revenue of $4.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.18 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 25th will be issued a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.06%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 85.78%.

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

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.