Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC Makes New Investment in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 2,434 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $127,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MO. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 163.6% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 50,862 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,317,000 after purchasing an additional 31,568 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 6.4% during the second quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 47,414 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,160,000 after purchasing an additional 2,848 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 4.1% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,097,005 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,969,000 after purchasing an additional 42,904 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 5.9% during the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 234,267 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,671,000 after purchasing an additional 13,086 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fidelis Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 66.5% during the second quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 15,424 shares of the company’s stock valued at $772,000 after purchasing an additional 6,162 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MO. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Altria Group in a report on Thursday, January 16th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $54.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America raised shares of Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.43.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of Altria Group stock opened at $51.92 on Tuesday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $39.25 and a 1-year high of $58.03. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $54.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $52.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $87.99 billion, a PE ratio of 8.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.64.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.03. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.82% and a negative return on equity of 233.80%. The company had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.33 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.28 EPS. Altria Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.13 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were paid a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.86%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 26th. Altria Group’s payout ratio is currently 68.92%.

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.