Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC Trims Stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC lowered its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 44.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 40,242 shares of the company’s stock after selling 32,008 shares during the period. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,623,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MO. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. raised its position in Altria Group by 11.3% in the third quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,934 shares of the company’s stock valued at $125,000 after purchasing an additional 299 shares during the period. Strategic Blueprint LLC raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 10.0% in the 3rd quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 9,993 shares of the company’s stock valued at $420,000 after buying an additional 905 shares during the period. CX Institutional raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 306.4% in the 3rd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 67,227 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,827,000 after buying an additional 50,683 shares during the period. Galvin Gaustad & Stein LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $214,000. Finally, Czech National Bank raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 46.8% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 310,165 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,042,000 after buying an additional 98,852 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on MO shares. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. StockNews.com downgraded Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, April 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a report on Monday, March 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.90.

Altria Group Trading Down 0.4 %

MO traded down $0.17 on Friday, hitting $43.37. 13,793,861 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 12,018,917. Altria Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $39.06 and a twelve month high of $48.04. The company has a market cap of $74.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.65. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $42.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.47.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.15. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 244.55% and a net margin of 33.21%. The firm had revenue of $4.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.18 EPS. Altria Group’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.04%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 85.78%.

Altria Group declared that its board has initiated a stock 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board 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.