WP Advisors LLC Has $1.18 Million Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

WP Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 29,152 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 372 shares during the quarter. WP Advisors LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,176,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sei Investments Co. raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 1.6% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 404,894 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,248,000 after purchasing an additional 6,324 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 5.2% during the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 18,647 shares of the company’s stock worth $974,000 after purchasing an additional 929 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group during the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 3.4% during the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,711,773 shares of the company’s stock worth $141,690,000 after purchasing an additional 89,334 shares during the period. Finally, First Western Trust Bank acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group during the first quarter worth approximately $498,000. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Monday, March 25th. StockNews.com downgraded Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, April 14th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. One investment 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. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.90.

Altria Group Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of Altria Group stock opened at $42.09 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $41.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.43. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.06 and a 12-month high of $48.04. The company has a market capitalization of $72.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.65.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $5.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.06 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 244.55% and a net margin of 33.21%. Altria Group’s revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.18 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.09 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm 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 $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.31%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 85.78%.

Altria Group declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, February 1st that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.