abrdn plc Sells 18,036 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

abrdn plc cut its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 4.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 428,341 shares of the company’s stock after selling 18,036 shares during the quarter. abrdn plc’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $17,279,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MO. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC boosted 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 during the last quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Altria Group by 67.6% in the 4th quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC now owns 677 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 273 shares during the period. Legacy Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Altria Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 1,800.0% during the 3rd 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 during the period. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a report on Monday, March 25th. StockNews.com cut shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 14th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price 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 research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Altria Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.90.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.1 %

NYSE MO opened at $42.92 on Thursday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.06 and a 52 week high of $48.04. The company has a market capitalization of $73.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.65. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $42.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.45.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.01. Altria Group had a net margin of 33.21% and a negative return on equity of 244.55%. The company had revenue of $5.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.06 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.18 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, February 1st that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.13%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.