MCF Advisors LLC Has $469,000 Stock Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

MCF Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 52.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 11,398 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 3,925 shares during the period. MCF Advisors LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $469,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new stake in Altria Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC raised its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 323 shares during the last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Altria Group during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. ZRC Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 273 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of MO traded up $0.47 on Monday, hitting $42.56. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,317,312 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,742,506. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $41.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.43. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.06 and a fifty-two week high of $48.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $73.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.01. The firm 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%. The business’s revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.18 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, February 1st that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 25th will be issued a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s payout ratio is presently 85.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price target on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Monday, March 25th. StockNews.com cut Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 14th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.