Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. Takes $204,000 Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. bought a new position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 5,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $204,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 21.3% during the 4th quarter. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,719 shares of the company’s stock worth $110,000 after acquiring an additional 477 shares in the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new position in Altria Group during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. KPP Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in Altria Group during the third quarter worth $3,128,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Altria Group by 293.6% in the third 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 last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,011,345 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,727,000 after buying an additional 4,789 shares in the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of MO opened at $43.82 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $75.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.17, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.66. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $39.06 and a 1 year high of $47.71. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $42.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.49.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.71 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 222.80% and a net margin of 34.81%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.18 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 25th were paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 82.01%.

Altria Group declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, February 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on MO shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 14th. UBS Group raised their price target on Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.90.

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.