Summit Trail Advisors LLC Grows Stock Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Summit Trail Advisors LLC raised its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) by 299.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 41,939 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 31,443 shares during the period. Summit Trail Advisors LLC's holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,870,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MO. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Altria Group by 21.3% during the fourth quarter. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,719 shares of the company's stock worth $110,000 after purchasing an additional 477 shares during the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. KPP Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $3,128,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Altria Group by 293.6% in the 3rd quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 55,546 shares of the company's stock worth $2,336,000 after buying an additional 41,432 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,011,345 shares of the company's stock worth $40,727,000 after purchasing an additional 4,789 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. StockNews.com downgraded Altria Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, April 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Monday, March 25th. 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $46.90.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MO traded up $0.16 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $43.98. The company's stock had a trading volume of 9,048,589 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,887,383. The firm has a market capitalization of $75.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.20, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.66. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $42.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.51. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.06 and a fifty-two week high of $47.37.

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

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 25th were issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.91%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 82.01%.

Altria Group announced that its board has initiated a stock 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 reacquire up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is 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.

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