Flputnam Investment Management Co. Grows Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Flputnam Investment Management Co. grew its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 37.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 19,002 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,128 shares during the period. Flputnam Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $767,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 404,894 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,248,000 after purchasing an additional 6,324 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 18,647 shares of the company’s stock worth $974,000 after purchasing an additional 929 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,711,773 shares of the company’s stock worth $141,690,000 after purchasing an additional 89,334 shares during the period. Finally, First Western Trust Bank acquired a new position in Altria Group during the 1st quarter worth approximately $498,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Monday, March 25th. StockNews.com lowered Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday. Finally, UBS Group boosted 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. 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.90.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of MO opened at $41.09 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $70.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.99, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.65. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $39.06 and a 52-week high of $48.04. The business’s 50 day moving average is $41.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.43.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $5.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.18 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, February 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 25th will be paid a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.54%. Altria Group’s payout ratio 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.