Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Sells 452,993 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. cut its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 44,003,071 shares of the company’s stock after selling 452,993 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,765,284,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MO. Taylor & Morgan Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Altria Group by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Taylor & Morgan Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,981 shares of the company’s stock worth $483,000 after acquiring an additional 246 shares during the period. Whitener Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Whitener Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,797 shares of the company’s stock valued at $412,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Salvus Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Salvus Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,326 shares of the company’s stock valued at $578,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the period. Mcintyre Freedman & Flynn Investment Advisers Inc. grew its position in Altria Group by 0.4% during the third quarter. Mcintyre Freedman & Flynn Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 58,143 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,445,000 after buying an additional 253 shares during the period. Finally, Resonant Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 5.7% in the third quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,738 shares of the company’s stock worth $204,000 after acquiring an additional 254 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of MO traded up $0.52 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $44.37. The company had a trading volume of 4,554,590 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,764,573. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $42.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.50. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $39.06 and a 1 year high of $46.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $76.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.66.

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

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 25th were given a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 82.01%.

Altria Group announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, February 1st that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Charles N. Whitaker sold 22,487 shares of Altria Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.95, for a total transaction of $988,303.65. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 173,485 shares in the company, valued at $7,624,665.75. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.09% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.