Altria Group, Inc. $MO Shares Sold by Ameritas Advisory Services LLC

Ameritas Advisory Services LLC reduced its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 21.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 33,737 shares of the company’s stock after selling 9,170 shares during the period. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,978,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 322,451 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,907,000 after purchasing an additional 10,181 shares in the last quarter. HighMark Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 3,625.7% during the 2nd quarter. HighMark Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,526 shares of the company’s stock worth $441,000 after purchasing an additional 7,324 shares in the last quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 11.2% during the 2nd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 5,616 shares of the company’s stock worth $335,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares in the last quarter. Crews Bank & Trust boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 7.1% during the 2nd quarter. Crews Bank & Trust now owns 3,035 shares of the company’s stock worth $178,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hilltop National Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the 2nd quarter worth $788,000. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Altria Group Trading Down 0.1%

NYSE:MO opened at $65.70 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $110.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 0.55. The company’s 50-day moving average is $65.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $60.91. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $48.86 and a 12-month high of $68.60.

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

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.06 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $4.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.5%. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 82.01%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on MO. Bank of America boosted 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. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. UBS Group upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $47.00 to $59.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Three research 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.com, Altria Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $60.88.

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.