Todd Asset Management LLC Lowers Stock Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Todd Asset Management LLC reduced its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 9.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 744,626 shares of the company’s stock after selling 79,739 shares during the quarter. Todd Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $30,038,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 4,665.6% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,972,259 shares of the company’s stock worth $160,241,000 after acquiring an additional 3,888,907 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in 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 buying an additional 1,653,455 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. boosted its position in Altria Group by 305,996.5% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,316,215 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,347,000 after buying an additional 1,315,785 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Altria Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $525,810,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MO. StockNews.com cut Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 14th. 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. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.90.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MO traded down $0.39 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $43.59. 11,228,966 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,736,930. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $42.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.51. The company has a market cap of $74.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.66. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.06 and a 52 week high of $46.86.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.15. The business 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%. The company’s revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.18 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 25th were given a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 82.01%.

Altria Group declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, February 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.