Hexagon Capital Partners LLC Reduces Stock Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lessened its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 5.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 15,515 shares of the company’s stock after selling 941 shares during the quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $626,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 21.3% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. KPP Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the third quarter worth approximately $3,128,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 293.6% during the third quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 55,546 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,336,000 after buying an additional 41,432 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,011,345 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,727,000 after buying an additional 4,789 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group increased their price target 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. 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 research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Altria Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.90.

Altria Group Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE MO traded down $0.01 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $43.81. 11,552,031 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,975,853. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.47. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $39.06 and a 1-year high of $48.04. The firm has a market cap of $75.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.65.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 222.80% and a net margin of 34.81%. The company had revenue of $4.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.18 earnings per share. Altria Group’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Shareholders 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 yield of 8.95%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.