Herold Advisors Inc. Sells 2,135 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Herold Advisors Inc. reduced its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 15.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,363 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,135 shares during the quarter. Herold Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $458,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Altria Group by 21.3% during the fourth quarter. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,719 shares of the company’s stock valued at $110,000 after purchasing an additional 477 shares during the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,000. KPP Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group during the third quarter worth approximately $3,128,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 293.6% during the third quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 55,546 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,336,000 after acquiring an additional 41,432 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,011,345 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,727,000 after acquiring an additional 4,789 shares in the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MO has been the topic of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Monday, March 25th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of 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 shares of Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Altria Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.90.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MO traded down $0.17 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $43.37. The stock had a trading volume of 13,793,861 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,018,917. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $39.06 and a 1 year high of $48.04. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $42.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.47. The firm has a market cap of $74.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.65.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.71 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 33.21% and a negative return on equity of 244.55%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.18 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The business 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. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 85.78%.

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

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.