Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Shares Purchased by Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 39.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 33,594 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,552 shares during the quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,355,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MO. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P purchased a new position in Altria Group during the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new position in Altria Group during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC raised its stake in Altria Group by 103.2% during the third 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 period. ZRC Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Altria Group by 67.6% during the fourth 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 period. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Altria Group by 1,800.0% during the third quarter. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. now owns 703 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 666 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MO. 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. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.90.

Altria Group Price Performance

Altria Group stock opened at $41.05 on Friday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.06 and a 12-month high of $48.04. The company has a market capitalization of $70.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.65. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $41.82 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.45.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly 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. Altria Group had a net margin of 33.21% and a negative return on equity of 244.55%. The firm had revenue of $5.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.06 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.18 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, February 1st that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to buy up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.55%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 85.78%.

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.