Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Shares Purchased by Verus Financial Partners Inc.

Verus Financial Partners Inc. boosted its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 10.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 61,667 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 5,958 shares during the period. Altria Group comprises 0.3% of Verus Financial Partners Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Verus Financial Partners Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $2,479,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. EdgeRock Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group in the fourth quarter valued at $48,000. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in Altria Group in the 4th quarter valued at $217,000. Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $237,000. Sage Investment Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the 4th quarter valued at $225,000. Finally, Simmons Bank increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Simmons Bank now owns 43,708 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,763,000 after buying an additional 2,181 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MO has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, April 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.90.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.7 %

MO stock traded up $0.31 during trading on Thursday, reaching $44.60. The stock had a trading volume of 2,661,894 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,723,614. The company has a market capitalization of $76.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.66. The company’s 50 day moving average is $42.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.50. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $39.06 and a one year high of $46.46.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.15. The firm had revenue of $4.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.71 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 222.80% and a net margin of 34.81%. The company’s revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.18 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 25th were paid a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s payout ratio is presently 82.01%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Charles N. Whitaker sold 22,487 shares of Altria Group stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 173,485 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,624,665.75. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.09% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.