Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC Has $4.18 Million Stock Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 103,486 shares of the company’s stock after selling 986 shares during the period. Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $4,175,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Charles N. Whitaker sold 22,487 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.95, for a total value of $988,303.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 173,485 shares in the company, valued at $7,624,665.75. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of MO stock traded down $0.10 on Monday, reaching $43.49. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 9,026,316 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,846,952. The company has a market capitalization of $74.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.10, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.66. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.06 and a 12-month high of $46.82. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $42.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.49.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.15. The firm had revenue of $4.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 quarter last year, the firm posted $1.18 EPS. Research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current year.

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

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 25th were issued a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 82.01%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.