Hodges Capital Management Inc. Boosts Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. $MO

Hodges Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 82.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,885 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,570 shares during the quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $473,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 64.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 17,702 shares of the company’s stock worth $926,000 after purchasing an additional 6,954 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 76,099 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,982,000 after purchasing an additional 3,883 shares during the last quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 175,128 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,177,000 after purchasing an additional 13,067 shares during the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 33.6% during the 4th quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 150,445 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,867,000 after purchasing an additional 37,858 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 14.1% during the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 248,113 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,974,000 after purchasing an additional 30,668 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $50.00 price target on the stock. Needham & Company LLC raised shares of Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. UBS Group raised shares of Altria Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $47.00 to $59.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Altria Group from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Altria Group from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Altria Group has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $60.88.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of MO stock opened at $66.64 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $111.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 0.59. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $48.86 and a fifty-two week high of $68.60. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $63.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $60.09.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $5.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.21 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 37.24% and a negative return on equity of 295.26%. Altria Group’s revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.31 earnings per share. Altria Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.350-5.450 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $1.06 per share. This represents a $4.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.4%. This is a positive change from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 78.92%.

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.