Lee Danner & Bass Inc. Decreases Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Lee Danner & Bass Inc. cut its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 26.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 23,062 shares of the company’s stock after selling 8,304 shares during the quarter. Lee Danner & Bass Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $930,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 103.2% during the third quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 636 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares during the last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. ZRC Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Altria Group by 67.6% during the fourth quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC now owns 677 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 273 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Altria Group in the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. 57.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $42.57 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $73.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.32, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.65. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $41.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.43. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $39.06 and a 52-week high of $48.04.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released 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 negative return on equity of 244.55% and a net margin of 33.21%. 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 prior year, the firm earned $1.18 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.09 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s payout ratio is currently 85.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Monday, March 25th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Altria Group currently 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.