Insider Selling: Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) VP Sells 22,487 Shares of Stock

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) VP Charles N. Whitaker sold 22,487 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.95, for a total transaction of $988,303.65. Following the completion of 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Altria Group stock traded down $0.10 during mid-day trading 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 price-to-earnings ratio of 9.10, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 business’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 earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15. The business 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.18 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, February 1st that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm 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 yield of 9.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 82.01%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on MO shares. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, April 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a 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 assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.90.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MO. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 154.4% in the 1st quarter. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 575 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 349 shares during the period. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the 1st quarter worth about $26,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 103.2% during the 3rd quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 636 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 323 shares during the period. Finally, Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

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.