Moors & Cabot Inc. Raises Position in Altria Group, Inc. $MO

Moors & Cabot Inc. increased its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 16.3% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 53,601 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,521 shares during the quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $3,143,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new stake in Altria Group during the second quarter valued at about $126,471,000. Central Valley Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Altria Group during the second quarter valued at about $1,715,000. Invst LLC raised its position in Altria Group by 252.0% during the first quarter. Invst LLC now owns 16,188 shares of the company’s stock valued at $972,000 after purchasing an additional 11,589 shares in the last quarter. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Altria Group by 5.5% during the second quarter. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC now owns 79,019 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,633,000 after purchasing an additional 4,149 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its position in Altria Group by 17.4% during the second quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,086,060 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,676,000 after purchasing an additional 161,356 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Price Performance

NYSE MO opened at $57.16 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.95 billion, a PE ratio of 11.06, a PEG ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.51. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $50.08 and a 1 year high of $68.60. The business’s 50-day moving average is $64.53 and its 200 day moving average is $61.87.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $5.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.31 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 295.26% and a net margin of 37.24%.Altria Group’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.38 earnings per share. Altria Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.370-5.45 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th were paid a $1.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.4%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 80.92%.

Altria Group announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, October 30th that permits the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on MO shares. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Altria Group in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $50.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Altria Group from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. UBS Group dropped their target price on Altria Group from $68.00 to $61.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 31st. Barclays increased their target price on Altria Group from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 target price on Altria Group in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.33.

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.