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

Wealth Alliance LLC boosted its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 29.8% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 12,272 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,820 shares during the period. Wealth Alliance LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $720,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MO. Mattson Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Altria Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Altria Group during the second quarter worth about $25,000. Carderock Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Altria Group during the second quarter worth about $26,000. Compass Financial Services Inc grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 64.4% during the 1st quarter. Compass Financial Services Inc now owns 717 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 281 shares during the period. Finally, GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the 1st quarter valued at about $44,000. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Altria Group Price Performance

MO stock 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. The business has a 50-day moving average of $63.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $61.85. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $50.08 and a 52-week high of $68.60. The firm has a market cap of $97.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.51.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly 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. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 295.26% and a net margin of 37.24%.The firm had revenue of $5.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.31 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.38 EPS. Altria Group’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Altria Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.370-5.45 EPS. Research analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, October 30th that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MO. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Altria Group from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Four 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.33.

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.