Northcape Wealth Management LLC Grows Stock Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Northcape Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,106 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 281 shares during the quarter. Northcape Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $408,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 4,665.6% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,972,259 shares of the company’s stock valued at $160,241,000 after buying an additional 3,888,907 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 54.1% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,710,670 shares of the company’s stock valued at $198,084,000 after buying an additional 1,653,455 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 9,259,451 shares of the company’s stock valued at $373,526,000 after buying an additional 1,343,094 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 305,996.5% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,316,215 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,347,000 after buying an additional 1,315,785 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $525,810,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on MO. UBS Group upped their price target on Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. 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. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Altria Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.90.

Altria Group Stock Down 0.0 %

NYSE MO traded down $0.01 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $43.81. The company had a trading volume of 11,552,031 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,975,853. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.06 and a fifty-two week high of $48.04. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.46. The firm has a market cap of $75.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.65.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.15. The firm 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%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.18 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

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 issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 82.01%.

Altria Group declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, February 1st that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.