Telos Capital Management Inc. Buys Shares of 8,570 Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Telos Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 8,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $346,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MO. Empirical Finance LLC grew its holdings in Altria Group by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 21,586 shares of the company’s stock valued at $987,000 after buying an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC grew its holdings in Altria Group by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC now owns 5,825 shares of the company’s stock valued at $246,000 after buying an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. Taylor & Morgan Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Altria Group by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Taylor & Morgan Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,981 shares of the company’s stock valued at $483,000 after buying an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Day & Ennis LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Whitener Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Monday, March 25th. UBS Group upped 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 cut 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 issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.90.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of MO opened at $41.09 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $70.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.65. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.43. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $39.06 and a 1 year high of $48.04.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its 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 analyst estimates 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 for the quarter was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.18 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 9.54%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 85.78%.

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

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.