FLC Capital Advisors Sells 2,393 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

FLC Capital Advisors lessened its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 12.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,183 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,393 shares during the quarter. FLC Capital Advisors’ holdings in Altria Group were worth $653,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MO. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P bought a new position in Altria Group in the first quarter worth $25,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new position in Altria Group in the third quarter worth $26,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC raised its holdings in Altria Group by 103.2% in the third quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 636 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares in the last quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Altria Group by 67.6% in 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. Finally, Legacy Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the third quarter worth $30,000. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of Altria Group stock traded up $0.54 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $43.66. 8,999,438 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,842,448. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $39.06 and a 1 year high of $48.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $76.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.52, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.65. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $41.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.53.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.01. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 244.55% and a net margin of 33.21%. The company had revenue of $5.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.06 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.18 earnings per share. Altria Group’s revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, February 1st that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase 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 Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 25th will be paid a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.98%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 85.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on MO. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Monday. UBS Group reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $36.10 target price on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com cut Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. One 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.com, Altria Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.82.

Altria Group 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.