Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Purchases 1,966 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 13.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 16,580 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,966 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $669,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 21.3% in the fourth quarter. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,719 shares of the company’s stock worth $110,000 after purchasing an additional 477 shares during the period. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group in the fourth quarter worth $39,000. KPP Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group in the third quarter worth $3,128,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings 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 worth $2,336,000 after purchasing an additional 41,432 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in Altria Group by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,011,345 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,727,000 after acquiring an additional 4,789 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Stock Down 0.4 %

NYSE MO opened at $43.38 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $42.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.46. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.06 and a 12-month high of $48.04. The firm has a market cap of $74.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.08, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.65.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting 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 business had revenue of $4.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.18 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 25th will be given a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.04%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 82.01%.

Altria Group announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, February 1st that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MO. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Monday, March 25th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Altria Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.90.

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.