Triumph Capital Management Has $632,000 Stock Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Triumph Capital Management raised its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 114.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 15,446 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 8,245 shares during the quarter. Triumph Capital Management’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $632,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 4,665.6% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,972,259 shares of the company’s stock worth $160,241,000 after acquiring an additional 3,888,907 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 54.1% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,710,670 shares of the company’s stock worth $198,084,000 after purchasing an additional 1,653,455 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in Altria Group by 17.0% in the 4th 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 period. Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in Altria Group by 305,996.5% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Altria Group during the fourth quarter worth $525,810,000. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.4 %

MO stock traded up $0.19 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $44.00. The stock had a trading volume of 3,517,919 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,872,918. The company has a market capitalization of $75.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.65. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $39.06 and a one year high of $47.71. The company’s 50 day moving average is $42.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.47.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 222.80% and a net margin of 34.81%. The company had revenue of $4.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.71 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.18 earnings per share. Altria Group’s revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 25th were issued a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 82.01%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MO. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a report on Monday, March 25th. StockNews.com downgraded Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 14th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. One equities 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.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.90.

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.