22,133 Shares in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Acquired by Leisure Capital Management

Leisure Capital Management purchased a new position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 22,133 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $893,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 21.3% in the 4th quarter. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,719 shares of the company’s stock worth $110,000 after purchasing an additional 477 shares during the period. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new position in Altria Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. KPP Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in Altria Group in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $3,128,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Altria Group by 293.6% in the 3rd quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 55,546 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,336,000 after buying an additional 41,432 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in Altria Group by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,011,345 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,727,000 after buying an additional 4,789 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of MO traded down $0.16 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $43.38. 13,794,252 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,969,122. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $42.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.47. The company has a market cap of $74.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.65. 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 results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15. The firm had revenue of $4.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.71 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 34.81% and a negative return on equity of 222.80%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.18 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 25th will be paid a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 82.01%.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of 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 objective on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average 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.