Cigna Investments Inc. New raised its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 3.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 67,000 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,105 shares during the quarter. Cigna Investments Inc. New’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $3,428,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MO. Freedman Financial Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. TRU Independence Asset Management 2 LLC purchased a new stake in Altria Group during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Encompass Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Altria Group during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Financial Avengers Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, JNBA Financial Advisors increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 158.2% in the 1st quarter. JNBA Financial Advisors now owns 581 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 356 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.65% of the company’s stock.
Shares of NYSE:MO traded up $0.06 during trading on Thursday, reaching $49.48. The company had a trading volume of 66,704 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,224,180. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $35.83 and a fifty-two week high of $52.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.41, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.61. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $49.60 and its 200 day moving average price is $45.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $91.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.61.
Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 28th. The company reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $4.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.98 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 16.80% and a return on equity of 215.81%. Altria Group’s quarterly revenue was down 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.09 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 4.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 15th will be issued a $0.86 dividend. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 14th. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 78.90%.
Altria Group announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, January 28th that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 2.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.
MO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $57.00 price target on shares of Altria Group in a report on Monday, April 5th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Thursday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 17th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “buy” rating on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Sunday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group cut Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $46.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, March 16th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. The company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $51.10.
About Altria Group
Altria Group, Inc operates as a holding company, which engages in the manufacture and sale of cigarettes in the United States. It operates through the following segments: Smokeable Products, Smokeless Products, and Wine. The Smokeable Products segment comprised of cigarettes manufactured and sold by PM USA and machine-made large cigars and pipe tobacco manufactured and sold by Middleton.
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