Xponance Inc. Purchases 2,015 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Xponance Inc. grew its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 194,931 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,015 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $7,864,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new position in shares of Altria Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 103.2% during the 3rd quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 636 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 323 shares during the period. ZRC Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 67.6% during the 4th quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC now owns 677 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 273 shares during the period. Finally, Legacy Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on MO. StockNews.com downgraded Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 14th. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.90.

Altria Group Price Performance

MO stock opened at $42.07 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $41.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.43. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.06 and a fifty-two week high of $48.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $72.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.65.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $1.18 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $5.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.06 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.18 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.32%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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 purchase up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board 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.