FourThought Financial Partners LLC Purchases Shares of 8,059 Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

FourThought Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 8,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $421,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MO. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC purchased a new stake in Altria Group during the third quarter valued at about $231,000. Modera Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Altria Group by 10.0% during the third quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 21,461 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,095,000 after buying an additional 1,953 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its stake in Altria Group by 7.9% during the third quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 388,836 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,861,000 after buying an additional 28,451 shares in the last quarter. Concord Wealth Partners lifted its stake in Altria Group by 29.7% during the third quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 6,177 shares of the company’s stock valued at $315,000 after buying an additional 1,413 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Altria Group by 10.9% during the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 555,228 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,826,000 after buying an additional 54,610 shares in the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Altria Group Stock Performance

NYSE:MO opened at $55.99 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $52.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $52.82. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.25 and a 52 week high of $58.03. The company has a market capitalization of $94.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.64.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.01. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 258.72% and a net margin of 46.90%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.29%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.29%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on MO. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America raised shares of Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.29.

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.