Orca Wealth Management LLC Buys Shares of 4,339 Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Orca Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 4,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $227,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 420.0% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 572 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 462 shares during the period. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Altria Group in the third quarter valued at $34,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Altria Group in the third quarter valued at $41,000. Fairman Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 85.1% in the 3rd quarter. Fairman Group LLC now owns 892 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 410 shares during the period. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 330.4% in the 4th quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 977 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 750 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Trading Down 1.7 %

Altria Group stock opened at $52.54 on Wednesday. Altria Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $39.25 and a twelve month high of $58.03. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $53.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $52.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $89.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.87, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.64.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.33 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.82% and a negative return on equity of 233.80%. Altria Group’s quarterly revenue was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.28 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were paid a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.77%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 26th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.92%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MO shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America upgraded Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.43.

Altria Group Company 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.