Sapient Capital LLC Buys Shares of 269,705 Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Sapient Capital LLC bought a new stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 269,705 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,144,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MO. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 103.2% in 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 during the last quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 67.6% in 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 during the last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Altria Group by 1,800.0% during the 3rd quarter. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. now owns 703 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 666 shares in the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MO has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group increased their target price on Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Altria Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.90.

Altria Group Stock Performance

MO stock traded down $0.39 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $43.59. The company had a trading volume of 11,228,966 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,736,930. The company has a market capitalization of $74.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.66. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.51. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.06 and a fifty-two week high of $46.86.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting 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%. Altria Group’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.18 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, February 1st that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 25th were given a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.99%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 82.01%.

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.