Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Stake Decreased by Delta Lloyd NV

Delta Lloyd NV cut its stake in Altria Group (NYSE:MO) by 8.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 164,057 shares of the company’s stock after selling 14,739 shares during the period. Delta Lloyd NV’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $11,776,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Advantage Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Altria Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $116,000. Feltz Wealth PLAN Inc. acquired a new position in Altria Group during the first quarter valued at approximately $134,000. Acropolis Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Altria Group by 0.3% in the first quarter. Acropolis Investment Management LLC now owns 1,939 shares of the company’s stock valued at $138,000 after buying an additional 5 shares during the period. Genovese Burford & Brothers Wealth & Retirement Plan Management LLC boosted its position in Altria Group by 102.5% in the first quarter. Genovese Burford & Brothers Wealth & Retirement Plan Management LLC now owns 2,669 shares of the company’s stock valued at $191,000 after buying an additional 1,351 shares during the period. Finally, Mascoma Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Altria Group by 0.3% in the first quarter. Mascoma Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,701 shares of the company’s stock valued at $193,000 after buying an additional 8 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.47% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) opened at 65.52 on Monday. Altria Group has a 12-month low of $60.01 and a 12-month high of $77.79. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $73.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $73.05. The company has a market capitalization of $126.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.64 and a beta of 0.61.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 27th. The company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $4.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.02 billion. Altria Group had a return on equity of 59.50% and a net margin of 56.98%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.81 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Altria Group will post $3.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 15th were paid a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.72%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 13th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is 32.19%.

Altria Group declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, July 27th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy up to 0.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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MO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Vetr upgraded Altria Group from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $80.18 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 5th. BidaskClub cut Altria Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 28th. Piper Jaffray Companies set a $76.00 price objective on Altria Group and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 27th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Altria Group from $77.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 31st. Finally, Cowen and Company restated a “hold” rating and set a $74.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Tuesday, July 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. The company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $72.66.

In other Altria Group news, Director George Munoz sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.35, for a total transaction of $361,750.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.15% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Altria Group

Altria Group, Inc is a holding company. The Company’s segments include smokeable products, smokeless products and wine. The Company’s subsidiaries include Philip Morris USA Inc (PM USA), which is engaged in the manufacture and sale of cigarettes in the United States; John Middleton Co (Middleton), which is engaged in the manufacture and sale of machine-made cigars and pipe tobacco, and UST LLC (UST), which, through its subsidiaries, including U.S.

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