Ellsworth Advisors LLC Purchases New Shares in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Ellsworth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 10,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $429,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group in the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new position in Altria Group in the third quarter worth $26,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC boosted its position in Altria Group by 103.2% in the third quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 636 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares during the last quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Altria Group by 67.6% in the 4th quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC now owns 677 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 273 shares during the period. Finally, Legacy Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. 57.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Altria Group Stock Down 0.1 %

MO traded down $0.04 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $43.62. The stock had a trading volume of 9,805,972 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,809,103. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $39.06 and a 1 year high of $48.04. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $41.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.54. The stock has a market cap of $76.92 billion, a PE ratio of 9.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.65.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.01. Altria Group had a net margin of 33.21% and a negative return on equity of 244.55%. The firm had revenue of $5.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.06 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.18 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.08 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, February 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.99%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 85.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on MO shares. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price target on shares of Altria Group in a report on Monday. UBS Group reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $36.10 target price on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Altria Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.82.

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.