KLCM Advisors Inc. Buys 970 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

KLCM Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 5.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 18,036 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 970 shares during the quarter. KLCM Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $728,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 1.6% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 404,894 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,248,000 after purchasing an additional 6,324 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 5.2% in the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 18,647 shares of the company’s stock worth $974,000 after purchasing an additional 929 shares in the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the first quarter worth $25,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 3.4% in the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,711,773 shares of the company’s stock worth $141,690,000 after purchasing an additional 89,334 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Western Trust Bank bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the first quarter worth $498,000. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:MO traded down $0.20 on Wednesday, hitting $40.75. The company had a trading volume of 10,407,370 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,885,098. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $39.06 and a 1-year high of $48.04. The stock has a market cap of $69.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.65. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $41.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.43.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $1.18 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.06 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.18 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, February 1st that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to buy up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm 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 9.62%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 85.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on MO shares. UBS Group boosted their price objective 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. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average 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.