Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Stake Trimmed by Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc.

Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. lowered its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 14.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,573 shares of the company’s stock after selling 925 shares during the quarter. Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $225,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new position in Altria Group in the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC grew its stake in Altria Group by 103.2% during the 3rd quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 636 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 323 shares in the last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Altria Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. ZRC Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Altria Group by 67.6% during the 4th 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. Finally, Legacy Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Altria Group during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Monday, March 25th. StockNews.com cut Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 14th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Altria Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.90.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $43.81 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $75.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.17, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.65. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.46. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.06 and a 52 week high of $48.04.

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

Altria Group declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, February 1st that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.95%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.01%.

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.