Torray Investment Partners LLC Reduces Stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Torray Investment Partners LLC lowered its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) by 13.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 273,523 shares of the company's stock after selling 41,282 shares during the period. Altria Group accounts for 1.8% of Torray Investment Partners LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Torray Investment Partners LLC's holdings in Altria Group were worth $11,034,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 21.3% during the 4th quarter. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,719 shares of the company's stock worth $110,000 after acquiring an additional 477 shares during the period. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new position in Altria Group during the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. KPP Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group in the third quarter worth about $3,128,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 293.6% in the third quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 55,546 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,336,000 after purchasing an additional 41,432 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,011,345 shares of the company's stock valued at $40,727,000 after buying an additional 4,789 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. 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. StockNews.com lowered Altria Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, April 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus restated a "buy" rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Monday, March 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Altria Group currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $46.90.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Charles N. Whitaker sold 22,487 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was 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 approximately $7,624,665.75. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.09% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Altria Group Stock Up 1.0 %

NYSE:MO traded up $0.46 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $45.50. 9,303,865 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,727,489. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $42.95 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.59. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.06 and a 52 week high of $46.34. The firm has a market cap of $78.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.66.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.15. Altria Group had a net margin of 34.81% and a negative return on equity of 222.80%. The company had revenue of $4.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.18 earnings per share. Altria Group's revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 25th were issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group's dividend payout ratio is currently 82.01%.

Altria Group declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, February 1st that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Altria Group Company Profile

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.

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