Hodges Capital Management Inc. Purchases Shares of 4,315 Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Hodges Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 4,315 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $226,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Financial Life Planners bought a new position in Altria Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. One Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. One Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 9,566 shares of the company’s stock worth $500,000 after buying an additional 577 shares in the last quarter. Lazari Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Altria Group by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Lazari Capital Management Inc. now owns 18,871 shares of the company’s stock valued at $987,000 after purchasing an additional 281 shares during the last quarter. Catalina Capital Group LLC grew its holdings in Altria Group by 15.8% during the 4th quarter. Catalina Capital Group LLC now owns 10,205 shares of the company’s stock worth $534,000 after acquiring an additional 1,391 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KPP Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Altria Group by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. KPP Advisory Services LLC now owns 62,573 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,272,000 after purchasing an additional 2,662 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MO has been the subject of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. StockNews.com raised Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.29.

Altria Group Price Performance

MO opened at $52.87 on Tuesday. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $39.25 and a one year high of $58.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.07, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.64. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $53.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $52.37.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.01. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 258.72% and a net margin of 46.90%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were paid a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.72%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is 62.29%.

Altria Group 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.