Tyche Wealth Partners LLC Acquires New Stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Tyche Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 98,027 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,954,000. Altria Group accounts for 1.0% of Tyche Wealth Partners LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest position.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MO. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P acquired a new position in Altria Group in the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new position in Altria Group in the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC grew 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 buying an additional 323 shares during the last quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Altria Group by 67.6% in the fourth quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC now owns 677 shares of the company's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 273 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Altria Group by 1,800.0% in the third quarter. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. now owns 703 shares of the company's stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 666 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company's stock.

Altria Group Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:MO traded down $0.21 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $40.74. 10,405,677 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,679,755. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $41.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.44. The firm has a market cap of $69.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.65. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $39.06 and a 1-year high of $48.04.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $5.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.06 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 33.21% and a negative return on equity of 244.55%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.18 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.09 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, February 1st that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 25th will be paid a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group's payout ratio is presently 85.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Altria Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $46.90.

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.

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