Machina Capital S.A.S. Makes New $1.32 Million Investment in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Machina Capital S.A.S. acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 32,594 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,315,000. Altria Group makes up approximately 0.8% of Machina Capital S.A.S.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MO. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 21.3% in the 4th quarter. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,719 shares of the company’s stock valued at $110,000 after acquiring an additional 477 shares during the period. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group in the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. KPP Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $3,128,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 293.6% in the 3rd quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 55,546 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,336,000 after acquiring an additional 41,432 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,011,345 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,727,000 after acquiring an additional 4,789 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on MO shares. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Monday, March 25th. StockNews.com cut shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 14th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective 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 given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.90.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MO traded up $0.36 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $43.85. 10,986,085 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,777,285. The company has a market cap of $75.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.15, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.66. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $39.06 and a 1 year high of $46.82. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $42.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.49.

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

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 25th were given a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.94%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 82.01%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Charles N. Whitaker sold 22,487 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.95, for a total value of $988,303.65. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 173,485 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,624,665.75. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

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.