Eudaimonia Advisors LLC Sells 2,983 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Eudaimonia Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 30.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 6,744 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,983 shares during the quarter. Eudaimonia Advisors LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $272,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new position in Altria Group during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC increased its stake in Altria Group by 103.2% during the 3rd quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 636 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares in the last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Altria Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. ZRC Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 273 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on MO shares. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price 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 given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.90.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.2 %

NYSE:MO traded up $0.10 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $42.97. 4,796,216 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,853,331. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $39.06 and a 1 year high of $48.04. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $42.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.44. The company has a market cap of $73.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.65.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $5.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.06 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.18 earnings per share. Altria Group’s revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities 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 authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, February 1st that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 25th will be issued a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s payout ratio is presently 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.