ProShare Advisors LLC Has $9.65 Million Stock Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

ProShare Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 2.7% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 221,181 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,128 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $9,648,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MO. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 21.3% during the fourth quarter. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,719 shares of the company’s stock valued at $110,000 after purchasing an additional 477 shares in the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Albion Financial Group UT boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 49.1% in the 1st quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 2,767 shares of the company’s stock worth $121,000 after buying an additional 911 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,011,345 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,727,000 after acquiring an additional 4,789 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 15.6% during the fourth quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 40,074 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,617,000 after acquiring an additional 5,418 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Monday, March 25th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Argus upgraded shares of Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on Altria Group from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $47.10.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of Altria Group stock traded up $1.36 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $49.39. The company had a trading volume of 10,018,402 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,903,581. The firm has a market cap of $84.83 billion, a PE ratio of 10.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.66. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $39.06 and a one year high of $49.47. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $45.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $43.24.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued 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 222.80% and a net margin of 34.81%. The business had revenue of $4.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.18 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were paid a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.94%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 82.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Altria Group

In other Altria Group news, VP Charles N. Whitaker sold 22,487 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.95, for a total value of $988,303.65. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 173,485 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,624,665.75. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group 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.