Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC Invests $212,000 in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 4,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $212,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Altria Group by 21.3% in the 4th quarter. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,719 shares of the company’s stock worth $110,000 after buying an additional 477 shares during the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new stake in Altria Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. KPP Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in Altria Group in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,128,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC lifted 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 last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Altria Group by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,011,345 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,727,000 after buying an additional 4,789 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MO. StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 28th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on 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 reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, Argus upgraded Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Altria Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.90.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Charles N. Whitaker sold 22,487 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.95, for a total transaction of $988,303.65. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 173,485 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,624,665.75. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Stock Performance

MO opened at $46.05 on Wednesday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $39.06 and a 52-week high of $47.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $79.10 billion, a PE ratio of 9.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.66. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $45.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $42.78.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate 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 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.51%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.01%.

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.