HF Advisory Group LLC Acquires 1,815 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

HF Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 7.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,916 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,815 shares during the quarter. HF Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,126,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MO. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in Altria Group by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 159,992 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,454,000 after acquiring an additional 9,862 shares during the last quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. boosted its position in Altria Group by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 10,609 shares of the company’s stock valued at $428,000 after acquiring an additional 401 shares during the last quarter. Telos Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Altria Group during the fourth quarter valued at $346,000. KLCM Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Altria Group by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. KLCM Advisors Inc. now owns 18,036 shares of the company’s stock valued at $728,000 after acquiring an additional 970 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Altria Group during the fourth quarter valued at $394,000. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of MO traded up $0.13 on Thursday, reaching $41.23. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,511,595 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,512,987. Altria Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $39.06 and a twelve month high of $48.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $70.82 billion, a PE ratio of 8.99, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.65. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $41.84 and a 200-day moving average of $41.43.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $5.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.06 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.18 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 25th will be issued a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.51%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 85.78%.

Altria Group announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, February 1st that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities 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. StockNews.com cut shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday. Finally, UBS Group increased 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. One research 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, Altria Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.