Flputnam Investment Management Co. Has $767,000 Stock Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Flputnam Investment Management Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 37.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 19,002 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,128 shares during the period. Flputnam Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $767,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MO. Sentry Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Altria Group by 96.2% during the fourth quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC now owns 20,207 shares of the company’s stock worth $815,000 after buying an additional 9,908 shares during the last quarter. B&D White Capital Company LLC raised its stake in Altria Group by 36.7% during the fourth quarter. B&D White Capital Company LLC now owns 423,365 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,079,000 after buying an additional 113,765 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in Altria Group during the fourth quarter worth $4,312,000. MV Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Altria Group by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,028 shares of the company’s stock worth $243,000 after buying an additional 315 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crestwood Advisors Group LLC raised its stake in Altria Group by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 23,049 shares of the company’s stock worth $930,000 after buying an additional 685 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MO. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Monday, March 25th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target 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 research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Altria Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.90.

Altria Group Price Performance

NYSE:MO opened at $41.09 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $41.84 and a 200-day moving average of $41.43. The company has a market cap of $70.58 billion, a PE ratio of 8.99, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.65. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $39.06 and a one year high of $48.04.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $5.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.06 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 33.21% and a negative return on equity of 244.55%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.18 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, February 1st that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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 yield of 9.54%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 85.78%.

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.