HF Advisory Group LLC Grows Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

HF Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 7.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 27,916 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,815 shares during the quarter. HF Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,126,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of MO. Sei Investments Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 404,894 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,248,000 after acquiring an additional 6,324 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 18,647 shares of the company’s stock valued at $974,000 after acquiring an additional 929 shares during the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,711,773 shares of the company’s stock valued at $141,690,000 after acquiring an additional 89,334 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Western Trust Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the 1st quarter valued at $498,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of MO traded up $0.13 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $41.23. The stock had a trading volume of 1,511,595 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,512,987. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $41.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.43. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.06 and a fifty-two week high of $48.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.99, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.65.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.01. Altria Group had a net margin of 33.21% and a negative return on equity of 244.55%. The firm had revenue of $5.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.06 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.18 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.51%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 85.78%.

Altria Group declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, February 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MO has been the topic of several recent research reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price 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. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.