Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Shares Sold by Eudaimonia Advisors LLC

Eudaimonia Advisors LLC lowered its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 30.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,744 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,983 shares during the period. Eudaimonia Advisors LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $272,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MO. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position 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 worth $198,084,000 after acquiring an additional 1,653,455 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in Altria Group by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 9,259,451 shares of the company’s stock worth $373,526,000 after buying an additional 1,343,094 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in Altria Group by 305,996.5% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,316,215 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,347,000 after buying an additional 1,315,785 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Altria Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $525,810,000. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its position in Altria Group by 19.1% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 6,464,930 shares of the company’s stock worth $271,850,000 after buying an additional 1,038,408 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.2 %

NYSE MO traded up $0.10 on Wednesday, reaching $42.97. 4,796,216 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,853,331. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $42.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.44. The company has a market cap of $73.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.65. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $39.06 and a 12 month 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 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 company had revenue of $5.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.06 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.18 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, February 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.12%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is 85.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented 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 target price on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.90.

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.