Fidelis Capital Partners LLC Buys 2,527 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Fidelis Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 51.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,442 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,527 shares during the quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $300,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 44,456,064 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,857,271,000 after purchasing an additional 840,559 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,856,051 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,596,257,000 after purchasing an additional 671,929 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 24,517,169 shares of the company’s stock valued at $990,002,000 after purchasing an additional 1,192,266 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 108,222.5% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 18,590,308 shares of the company’s stock valued at $849,763,000 after purchasing an additional 18,573,146 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 17,105,285 shares of the company’s stock valued at $781,883,000 after purchasing an additional 1,531,337 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MO. StockNews.com lowered Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 14th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. One equities 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.90.

Altria Group Stock Up 1.9 %

NYSE:MO opened at $42.07 on Friday. Altria Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $39.06 and a twelve month high of $48.04. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $41.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.43. The company has a market cap of $72.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.65.

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

Altria Group announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, February 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The company 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. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.32%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 85.78%.

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.