Golden State Equity Partners Grows Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Golden State Equity Partners grew its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 8.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 10,802 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 808 shares during the period. Golden State Equity Partners’ holdings in Altria Group were worth $436,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 21.3% in the 4th quarter. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,719 shares of the company’s stock valued at $110,000 after acquiring an additional 477 shares during the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group in the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. KPP Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $3,128,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 293.6% in the 3rd quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 55,546 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,336,000 after purchasing an additional 41,432 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,011,345 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,727,000 after purchasing an additional 4,789 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MO has been the subject of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Monday, March 25th. StockNews.com cut shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 14th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. One investment 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.90.

Altria Group Stock Performance

NYSE:MO opened at $43.38 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $42.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $74.51 billion, a PE ratio of 9.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.65. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.06 and a fifty-two week high of $48.04.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15. The company had revenue of $4.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.71 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 34.81% and a negative return on equity of 222.80%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.18 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The business 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. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 82.01%.

Altria Group declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, February 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign 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.