16,224 Shares in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Acquired by VCI Wealth Management LLC

VCI Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 16,224 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $654,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MO. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group during the third quarter worth $26,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 103.2% during the third quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 636 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 323 shares during the period. ZRC Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 67.6% during the fourth quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC now owns 677 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 273 shares during the period. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 1,800.0% during the third quarter. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. now owns 703 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 666 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on MO. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Monday, March 25th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 14th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Altria Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.90.

Altria Group Stock Up 1.4 %

Altria Group stock traded up $0.62 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $43.54. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 14,204,733 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,996,659. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.06 and a fifty-two week high of $48.04. The company has a market cap of $74.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.65. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $42.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.45.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 244.55% and a net margin of 33.21%. The company had revenue of $4.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.71 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.18 earnings per share. Altria Group’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.00%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 85.78%.

Altria Group declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, February 1st that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is 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.