Staley Capital Advisers Inc. Has $930,000 Position in Altria Group (NYSE:MO)

Staley Capital Advisers Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Altria Group (NYSE:MO) by 0.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,028 shares of the company’s stock after selling 103 shares during the period. Staley Capital Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $930,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Swiss National Bank increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 25.1% in the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 7,486,394 shares of the company’s stock valued at $534,678,000 after buying an additional 1,501,400 shares in the last quarter. UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. increased its stake in Altria Group by 7.4% in the first quarter. UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 5,632,931 shares of the company’s stock worth $402,304,000 after buying an additional 387,069 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in Altria Group by 23.8% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 3,799,398 shares of the company’s stock worth $271,353,000 after buying an additional 730,600 shares during the period. Putnam Investments LLC increased its stake in Altria Group by 186.6% in the fourth quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 3,473,614 shares of the company’s stock worth $234,886,000 after buying an additional 2,261,462 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Altria Group by 14.8% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 3,399,616 shares of the company’s stock worth $242,802,000 after buying an additional 438,032 shares during the period. 62.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Shares of Altria Group (NYSE:MO) traded down 0.95% during midday trading on Friday, reaching $63.69. 10,210,604 shares of the company’s stock traded hands. The stock has a market cap of $122.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.40 and a beta of 0.61. Altria Group has a 12 month low of $60.01 and a 12 month high of $77.79. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $69.77 and a 200-day moving average of $72.51.

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

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

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A number of brokerages have commented on MO. BidaskClub upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded shares of Altria Group from an “underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $62.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, July 31st. Cowen and Company set a $78.00 price target on shares of Altria Group and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 28th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $80.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Monday, July 31st. Finally, Vetr upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $74.89 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, April 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. The stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $72.66.

In related news, Director George Munoz sold 5,000 shares of Altria Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.35, for a total value of $361,750.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Martin J. Barrington sold 15,300 shares of Altria Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.03, for a total value of $994,959.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 701,074 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,590,842.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Altria Group Company Profile

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.