Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Holdings Raised by Atria Wealth Solutions Inc.

Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 8.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 161,628 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,659 shares during the quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $6,542,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC raised its position in Altria Group by 103.2% in the third quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 636 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 323 shares in the last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Altria Group in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. ZRC Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Altria Group by 67.6% in the fourth quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC now owns 677 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 273 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Altria Group in the third quarter worth about $30,000. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on MO. UBS Group boosted their price target 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. StockNews.com cut Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price target on shares of Altria Group in a research note 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 issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.90.

Altria Group Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE:MO traded up $0.11 on Friday, hitting $43.65. 1,540,306 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,862,167. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $39.06 and a 1 year high of $48.04. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $42.12 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.46. The company has a market cap of $74.97 billion, a PE ratio of 9.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.65.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.15. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 244.55% and a net margin of 33.21%. The company had revenue of $4.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.18 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 25th will be paid a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.98%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 85.78%.

Altria Group announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, February 1st that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Altria Group 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.