Scissortail Wealth Management LLC Acquires Shares of 12,998 Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Scissortail Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 12,998 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $527,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Empirical Finance LLC grew its holdings in Altria Group by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 21,586 shares of the company’s stock worth $987,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the period. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC grew its holdings in Altria Group by 4.3% during the third quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC now owns 5,825 shares of the company’s stock worth $246,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares during the period. Taylor & Morgan Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Altria Group by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Taylor & Morgan Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,981 shares of the company’s stock worth $483,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares during the period. Day & Ennis LLC grew its holdings in Altria Group by 4.9% during the third quarter. Day & Ennis LLC now owns 5,353 shares of the company’s stock worth $225,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the period. Finally, Whitener Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Altria Group by 2.6% during the third quarter. Whitener Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,797 shares of the company’s stock worth $412,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on MO shares. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Monday, March 25th. UBS Group raised 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. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.90.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MO traded down $0.20 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $40.75. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 10,407,370 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,885,098. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.06 and a fifty-two week high of $48.04. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $41.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.43. The company has a market cap of $69.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 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 net margin of 33.21% and a negative return on equity of 244.55%. The company had revenue of $5.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.06 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.18 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 25th will be given a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.62%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 85.78%.

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.