Bfsg LLC Takes Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Bfsg LLC bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $77,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp now owns 53,375 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,153,000 after buying an additional 1,775 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the 4th quarter worth $330,000. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 56,219 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,268,000 after purchasing an additional 3,613 shares during the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 34.6% during the 4th quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 276,585 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,157,000 after purchasing an additional 71,026 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Duality Advisers LP lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 19.3% during the 4th quarter. Duality Advisers LP now owns 27,192 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,097,000 after purchasing an additional 4,395 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com cut Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 14th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price target on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target 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 investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.90.

Altria Group Price Performance

NYSE MO opened at $43.25 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $74.29 billion, a PE ratio of 9.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.65. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $42.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.46. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $39.06 and a 1-year high of $48.04.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15. The company had revenue of $4.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.71 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 244.55% and a net margin of 33.21%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.18 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, February 1st that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.06%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 85.78%.

About Altria Group

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.