Altria Group, Inc. $MO Shares Bought by Wealth Alliance LLC

Wealth Alliance LLC grew its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 29.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,272 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,820 shares during the period. Wealth Alliance LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $720,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MO. ERTS Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 4.6% during the second quarter. ERTS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,154 shares of the company’s stock valued at $244,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares during the period. Bouchey Financial Group Ltd lifted its stake in Altria Group by 2.8% during the second quarter. Bouchey Financial Group Ltd now owns 6,951 shares of the company’s stock worth $409,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares during the period. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 7.3% in the second quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 141,614 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,303,000 after purchasing an additional 9,672 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Quarterback LLC lifted its position in Altria Group by 9.5% during the 2nd quarter. Wealth Quarterback LLC now owns 12,167 shares of the company’s stock valued at $713,000 after purchasing an additional 1,059 shares during the period. Finally, National Pension Service grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,500,565 shares of the company’s stock valued at $263,868,000 after purchasing an additional 81,309 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America upped their target price on Altria Group from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Altria Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 target price on Altria Group in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Altria Group from $68.00 to $61.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Altria Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.33.

Altria Group Stock Down 0.4%

NYSE:MO traded down $0.25 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $57.80. The stock had a trading volume of 1,040,132 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,891,439. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $50.08 and a one year high of $68.60. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $63.63 and a 200 day moving average of $61.85. The company has a market capitalization of $97.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.18, a PEG ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.51.

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

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th were paid a $1.06 dividend. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. This represents a $4.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.3%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is 80.92%.

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

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.