Dover Advisors LLC Trims Stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Dover Advisors LLC decreased its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 27.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 15,444 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,978 shares during the period. Dover Advisors LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $638,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MO. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 54.1% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,710,670 shares of the company’s stock worth $198,084,000 after acquiring an additional 1,653,455 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 17.0% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 9,259,451 shares of the company’s stock worth $373,526,000 after buying an additional 1,343,094 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 305,996.5% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,316,215 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,347,000 after buying an additional 1,315,785 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $525,810,000. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 19.1% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 6,464,930 shares of the company’s stock worth $271,850,000 after buying an additional 1,038,408 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MO traded down $0.16 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $43.38. The company had a trading volume of 13,794,252 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,969,122. The company has a market cap of $74.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.08, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.65. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.06 and a 12-month high of $48.04. The company has a fifty day moving average of $42.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.45.

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

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

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 25th will be paid a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.