Cerity Partners LLC Acquires 76,237 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 32.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 312,394 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 76,237 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $12,728,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sandy Spring Bank grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Sandy Spring Bank now owns 25,309 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,022,000 after acquiring an additional 1,198 shares in the last quarter. Executive Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 8.5% in the 4th quarter. Executive Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,523 shares of the company’s stock worth $223,000 after acquiring an additional 431 shares in the last quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the 4th quarter worth $404,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 39.7% in the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 33,594 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,355,000 after acquiring an additional 9,552 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Greylin Investment Management Inc grew its position in Altria Group by 7.9% during the fourth quarter. Greylin Investment Management Inc now owns 174,026 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,020,000 after buying an additional 12,802 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MO has been the subject of several research reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday. UBS Group increased their price target 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. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Monday, March 25th. 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.90.

Altria Group Stock Down 0.9 %

NYSE MO opened at $41.05 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $70.51 billion, a PE ratio of 8.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.65. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.06 and a 52 week high of $48.04. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $41.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.45.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $5.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.06 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 33.21% and a negative return on equity of 244.55%. The company’s revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.18 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.09 EPS for the current year.

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

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The company 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 $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.55%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 85.78%.

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.