Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC Invests $578,000 in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 14,326 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $578,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 54.1% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,710,670 shares of the company’s stock valued at $198,084,000 after purchasing an additional 1,653,455 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 9,259,451 shares of the company’s stock valued at $373,526,000 after purchasing an additional 1,343,094 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 305,996.5% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,316,215 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,347,000 after purchasing an additional 1,315,785 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Altria Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $525,810,000. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Altria Group by 19.1% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 6,464,930 shares of the company’s stock valued at $271,850,000 after acquiring an additional 1,038,408 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Price Performance

MO stock traded down $0.16 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $43.38. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 13,794,252 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,969,122. Altria Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $39.06 and a twelve month high of $48.04. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $42.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $74.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.08, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.65.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15. Altria Group had a net margin of 34.81% and a negative return on equity of 222.80%. The company had revenue of $4.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.18 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.04%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 82.01%.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 14th. 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 company a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. One investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average 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.