Sachetta LLC Cuts Stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Sachetta LLC lessened its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 45.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,346 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,115 shares during the quarter. Sachetta LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $82,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 41,938,507 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,193,687,000 after acquiring an additional 1,134,748 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 22,273,491 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,164,681,000 after buying an additional 76,004 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 9.6% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,432,535 shares of the company’s stock worth $859,257,000 after buying an additional 1,444,021 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,801,958 shares of the company’s stock worth $617,124,000 after buying an additional 983,328 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 17.4% in the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 8,927,340 shares of the company’s stock worth $466,811,000 after buying an additional 1,323,421 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Stock Performance

MO stock opened at $57.96 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $97.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.71, a PEG ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.59. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $59.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $56.77. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $47.57 and a one year high of $61.26.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $4.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.64 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 43.09% and a negative return on equity of 295.44%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.15 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.04%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.34%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MO. Needham & Company LLC upgraded shares of Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $47.00 to $59.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $56.75.

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.