Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. Invests $204,000 in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 5,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $204,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 21.3% in the 4th 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 period. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Altria Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. KPP Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group in the third quarter valued at about $3,128,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 293.6% in the third quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 55,546 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,336,000 after purchasing an additional 41,432 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 4,789 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on MO shares. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Monday, March 25th. StockNews.com cut shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, April 14th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. One research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.90.

Altria Group Stock Performance

MO stock opened at $43.82 on Thursday. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $39.06 and a one year high of $47.71. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $42.39 and its 200 day moving average is $41.49. The firm has a market cap of $75.27 billion, a PE ratio of 9.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.66.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15. The company had revenue of $4.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.71 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 222.80% and a net margin of 34.81%. Altria Group’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.18 earnings per share. Research analysts predict 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 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 25th were given a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.95%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.