SouthState Corp Sells 8,598 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

SouthState Corp cut its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 17.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 41,958 shares of the company’s stock after selling 8,598 shares during the quarter. SouthState Corp’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,693,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 4,665.6% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,972,259 shares of the company’s stock worth $160,241,000 after purchasing an additional 3,888,907 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Altria Group by 54.1% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,710,670 shares of the company’s stock valued at $198,084,000 after buying an additional 1,653,455 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Altria Group by 17.0% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 9,259,451 shares of the company’s stock worth $373,526,000 after acquiring an additional 1,343,094 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 305,996.5% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,316,215 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,347,000 after acquiring an additional 1,315,785 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $525,810,000. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on MO shares. UBS Group increased their price objective on Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. StockNews.com downgraded Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a report on Monday, March 25th. 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.90.

Altria Group Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of Altria Group stock traded down $0.39 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $43.59. The stock had a trading volume of 11,196,830 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,879,438. Altria Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $39.06 and a twelve month high of $46.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $74.87 billion, a PE ratio of 9.12, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.66. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $42.46 and its 200 day moving average is $41.51.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, meeting 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 company had revenue of $4.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.71 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.18 earnings per share. Altria Group’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 25th were paid a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.99%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 82.01%.

Altria Group declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, February 1st that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is 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.