Avidian Wealth Solutions LLC Has $399,000 Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Avidian Wealth Solutions LLC increased its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 24.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 9,882 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,959 shares during the quarter. Avidian Wealth Solutions LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $399,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MO. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 103.2% in the third quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 636 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 323 shares during the last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. ZRC Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 67.6% during the 4th quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC now owns 677 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 273 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 1,800.0% in the 3rd quarter. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. now owns 703 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 666 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on MO shares. StockNews.com cut Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 14th. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Finally, UBS Group raised 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 assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Altria Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.90.

Altria Group Stock Down 0.1 %

NYSE MO traded down $0.03 during trading on Monday, hitting $43.56. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,742,879 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,794,118. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.06 and a 52 week high of $46.82. The firm has a market cap of $74.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.66. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $42.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.49.

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

Altria Group announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, February 1st that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 25th were given a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.00%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 82.01%.

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.