Leisure Capital Management Acquires Shares of 22,133 Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Leisure Capital Management bought a new position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 22,133 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $893,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 44,456,064 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,857,271,000 after buying an additional 840,559 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,609,568 shares of the company’s stock worth $698,432,000 after buying an additional 42,490 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 17.0% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 9,259,451 shares of the company’s stock worth $373,526,000 after buying an additional 1,343,094 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 8.5% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 9,174,355 shares of the company’s stock worth $381,278,000 after buying an additional 722,258 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 19.1% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 6,464,930 shares of the company’s stock worth $271,850,000 after buying an additional 1,038,408 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MO has been the subject of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a report on Monday, March 25th. StockNews.com cut Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 14th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. One 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.90.

Altria Group Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE MO traded down $0.16 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $43.38. 13,794,252 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,969,122. The stock has a market cap of $74.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.65. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $39.06 and a 1 year high of $48.04. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $42.18 and a 200 day moving average of $41.47.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.18 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback 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 often a sign that the company’s board of directors 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. Investors of record on Monday, March 25th will be given a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.04%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 82.01%.

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.