Scissortail Wealth Management LLC Invests $527,000 in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Scissortail Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 12,998 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $527,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position 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 worth $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 $39,000. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 7.3% in the third quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC now owns 31,007 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,304,000 after acquiring an additional 2,122 shares during the period. KPP Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in Altria Group in the third quarter valued at $3,128,000. Finally, Axxcess Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 293.6% in the third quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 55,546 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,336,000 after acquiring an additional 41,432 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price target on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.90.

Altria Group Trading Down 0.5 %

MO traded down $0.20 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $40.75. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 10,407,370 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,885,098. The firm has a market cap of $69.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.91, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.65. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $41.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.43. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $39.06 and a 52-week high of $48.04.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $5.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.06 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 244.55% and a net margin of 33.21%. The firm’s revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.18 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.09 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 25th will be paid a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.62%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 85.78%.

Altria Group declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, February 1st that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.