National Bank of Canada FI Trims Stock Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

National Bank of Canada FI lowered its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 51.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,242,788 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,329,746 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $51,674,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new position in Altria Group in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC raised 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 raised its holdings in Altria Group by 67.6% during the fourth quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC now owns 677 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 273 shares in the last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Altria Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 1,800.0% in the third quarter. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. now owns 703 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 666 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Stock Performance

MO stock traded down $0.04 on Monday, reaching $43.55. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,844,665 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,785,155. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.49. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.06 and a 12-month high of $46.82. The firm has a market cap of $74.80 billion, a PE ratio of 9.10, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.66.

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

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

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.00%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is currently 82.01%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on MO. StockNews.com lowered shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 14th. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective 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 equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.90.

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.