Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. Raises Stock Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 8.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,751 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 424 shares during the period. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $232,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MO. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in Altria Group by 4,665.6% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,972,259 shares of the company’s stock worth $160,241,000 after purchasing an additional 3,888,907 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 54.1% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,710,670 shares of the company’s stock valued at $198,084,000 after acquiring an additional 1,653,455 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Altria Group by 17.0% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 9,259,451 shares of the company’s stock worth $373,526,000 after acquiring an additional 1,343,094 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 305,996.5% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,316,215 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,347,000 after purchasing an additional 1,315,785 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $525,810,000. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of MO traded down $0.39 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $43.59. 11,228,966 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,736,930. The stock has a market cap of $74.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.12, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.66. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $42.50 and a 200-day moving average of $41.51. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.06 and a 52 week high of $46.86.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 222.80% and a net margin of 34.81%. The company 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 company earned $1.18 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict 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 was paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 25th were given a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.99%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 82.01%.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MO. 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 report on Monday, April 8th. StockNews.com cut Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report 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 report on Monday, March 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Altria Group presently has an average 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.