Leisure Capital Management Invests $893,000 in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Leisure Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 22,133 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $893,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Strategic Blueprint LLC raised its holdings in Altria Group by 10.0% in the third quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 9,993 shares of the company's stock worth $420,000 after purchasing an additional 905 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its holdings in Altria Group by 66.1% in the third quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 14,405 shares of the company's stock worth $606,000 after purchasing an additional 5,733 shares in the last quarter. Zullo Investment Group Inc. raised its holdings in Altria Group by 5.9% in the third quarter. Zullo Investment Group Inc. now owns 6,295 shares of the company's stock worth $265,000 after purchasing an additional 352 shares in the last quarter. MCF Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 8.5% during the third quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 7,473 shares of the company's stock valued at $320,000 after acquiring an additional 588 shares in the last quarter. Finally, U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 2.1% during the third quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 172,962 shares of the company's stock valued at $7,273,000 after acquiring an additional 3,494 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MO has been the subject of several analyst reports. UBS Group raised their price target on Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. StockNews.com downgraded Altria Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, April 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus restated a "buy" rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of Altria Group in a report on Monday, March 25th. One 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's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Altria Group has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $46.90.

Altria Group Stock Down 0.4 %

NYSE:MO traded down $0.16 on Friday, hitting $43.38. The stock had a trading volume of 13,794,252 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,969,122. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $39.06 and a 52-week high of $48.04. The stock has a market cap of $74.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.65. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $42.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.46.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $1.15. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 222.80% and a net margin of 34.81%. The firm had revenue of $4.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.18 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 25th will be given 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 dividend yield of 9.04%. Altria Group's payout ratio is currently 82.01%.

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

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.