Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Shares Sold by Federated Hermes Inc.

Federated Hermes Inc. decreased its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 9.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 57,152 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,130 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $2,306,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of MO. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Altria Group by 1.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 44,456,064 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,857,271,000 after purchasing an additional 840,559 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Altria Group by 0.3% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,609,568 shares of the company’s stock worth $698,432,000 after purchasing an additional 42,490 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Altria Group by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 9,259,451 shares of the company’s stock worth $373,526,000 after purchasing an additional 1,343,094 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Altria Group by 8.5% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 9,174,355 shares of the company’s stock worth $381,278,000 after purchasing an additional 722,258 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its stake in Altria Group by 19.1% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 6,464,930 shares of the company’s stock worth $271,850,000 after purchasing an additional 1,038,408 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Monday, March 25th. UBS Group increased their target price on Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.90.

Altria Group Stock Down 0.4 %

NYSE:MO opened at $43.38 on Monday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $39.06 and a 1-year high of $48.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $74.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.65. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.45.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 222.80% and a net margin of 34.81%. The firm had revenue of $4.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.71 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.18 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, February 1st that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 25th will be given a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.04%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is presently 82.01%.

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.