Smith Anglin Financial LLC Increases Stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Smith Anglin Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 36.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,395 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,752 shares during the period. Smith Anglin Financial LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $544,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MO. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in Altria Group by 163.6% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 50,862 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,317,000 after buying an additional 31,568 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 24.6% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,141,605 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,550,000 after purchasing an additional 423,091 shares in the last quarter. One Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 1.2% in the second quarter. One Capital Management LLC now owns 22,257 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,014,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 0.7% in the second quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 54,703 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,492,000 after purchasing an additional 380 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 57.5% in the second quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 21,865 shares of the company’s stock worth $996,000 after purchasing an additional 7,983 shares in the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on MO shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Bank of America raised shares of Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.33.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.2 %

Altria Group stock opened at $51.46 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $54.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $51.92. Altria Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $39.25 and a twelve month high of $58.03. The company has a market cap of $87.22 billion, a PE ratio of 8.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.64.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.33 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.82% and a negative return on equity of 233.80%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.28 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were given a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.93%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is presently 68.92%.

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.