Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Director Kathryn Mcquade Acquires 1,500 Shares of Stock

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Director Kathryn Mcquade acquired 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 9th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $67.62 per share, for a total transaction of $101,430.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 114,929 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,771,498.98. This trade represents a 1.32% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of Altria Group stock traded up $0.22 during trading on Friday, reaching $69.01. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,552,000 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,246,020. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $69.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $69.11. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $54.70 and a 52 week high of $77.06. The firm has a market cap of $115.23 billion, a PE ratio of 14.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.45.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported $1.48 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $5.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.35 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 315.29% and a net margin of 33.99%.Altria Group’s revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.44 earnings per share. Altria Group has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.610-5.720 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be paid a $1.11 dividend. This represents a $4.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.4%. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.06. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 89.45%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $50.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Barclays dropped their price target on Altria Group from $64.00 to $58.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. BTIG Research began coverage on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Altria Group from $76.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Altria Group in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $70.11.

Institutional Trading of Altria Group

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of MO. Bouchey Financial Group Ltd. grew its position in Altria Group by 12.9% in the second quarter. Bouchey Financial Group Ltd. now owns 9,411 shares of the company’s stock valued at $682,000 after acquiring an additional 1,072 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 29.7% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,379,243 shares of the company’s stock valued at $99,237,000 after purchasing an additional 315,892 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 5.8% during the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 137,847 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,918,000 after purchasing an additional 7,550 shares during the last quarter. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC increased its position in Altria Group by 29.0% during the 2nd quarter. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC now owns 12,689 shares of the company’s stock worth $913,000 after purchasing an additional 2,850 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MCF Advisors LLC increased its position in Altria Group by 15.5% during the 2nd quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 20,471 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,490,000 after purchasing an additional 2,743 shares in the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Altria Group

Altria Group, Inc (NYSE: MO) is a tobacco and nicotine company headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. Through its operating companies, Altria develops, manufactures and markets cigarettes, cigars, oral tobacco products, nicotine pouches and electronic vaping products, with its business focused primarily on the United States.

Altria’s smokeable products portfolio includes Marlboro cigarettes, which are manufactured and marketed in the U.S. by Philip Morris USA, as well as Black & Mild cigars through John Middleton.