Team Hewins LLC Purchases New Shares in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Team Hewins LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 12,811 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $529,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. TCW Group Inc. increased its holdings in Altria Group by 220.5% during the 4th quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 40,610 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,634,000 after purchasing an additional 27,940 shares in the last quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 45.6% in the 4th quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 39,270 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,589,000 after buying an additional 12,294 shares during the period. FineMark National Bank & Trust increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. FineMark National Bank & Trust now owns 35,906 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,448,000 after buying an additional 1,467 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 611,791 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,680,000 after buying an additional 10,443 shares during the period. Finally, WBI Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 86.5% in the 4th quarter. WBI Investments LLC now owns 177,514 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,161,000 after buying an additional 82,350 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Altria Group Price Performance

NYSE MO traded down $0.17 during trading on Friday, reaching $45.47. 3,542,142 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,519,749. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $43.54 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $78.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.53, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.66. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.06 and a fifty-two week high of $46.60.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate 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%. The firm’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 earned $1.18 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Altria Group’s payout ratio is presently 82.01%.

Altria Group announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, February 1st that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on MO shares. 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 note on Monday, April 8th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, April 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.90.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Charles N. Whitaker sold 22,487 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.95, for a total value of $988,303.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 173,485 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,624,665.75. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

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.