Soltis Investment Advisors LLC Sells 3,554 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Soltis Investment Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 43.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 4,598 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,554 shares during the period. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $201,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MO. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 13,279,658 shares of the company’s stock worth $535,701,000 after purchasing an additional 242,442 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 120.6% in the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,762,047 shares of the company’s stock worth $382,201,000 after buying an additional 4,789,788 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 15.2% during the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 4,681,943 shares of the company’s stock worth $188,870,000 after acquiring an additional 617,900 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Altria Group by 24.4% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,674,441 shares of the company’s stock valued at $188,567,000 after acquiring an additional 915,478 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in Altria Group by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 3,754,522 shares of the company’s stock worth $163,772,000 after purchasing an additional 54,096 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MO shares. Bank of America lifted their target price on Altria Group from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Argus raised shares of Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $47.90.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of Altria Group stock traded up $1.05 during trading on Friday, hitting $51.07. The stock had a trading volume of 12,662,503 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,285,990. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $39.06 and a 12 month high of $51.40. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $47.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.99. The stock has a market cap of $87.14 billion, a PE ratio of 10.68, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.66.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $6.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.39 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 232.55% and a net margin of 42.25%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.31 EPS. Analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were given a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.68%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 82.01%.

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.