Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Trims Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. $MO

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC lowered its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 7.3% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 41,918 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,296 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $2,558,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sierra Ocean LLC raised its position in Altria Group by 226.3% in the first quarter. Sierra Ocean LLC now owns 509 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 353 shares during the period. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the first quarter valued at $31,000. Pinney & Scofield Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. TruNorth Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 51.8% in the first quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 636 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Abound Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the first quarter valued at $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MO shares. Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 price objective on Altria Group in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays upped their price objective on Altria Group from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. UBS Group raised Altria Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $47.00 to $59.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on Altria Group from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $60.88.

Altria Group Price Performance

MO stock opened at $65.78 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $110.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.72, a P/E/G ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 0.59. The business’s 50-day moving average is $62.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $59.85. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $48.86 and a 1 year high of $68.60.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly 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 negative return on equity of 295.26% and a net margin of 37.24%.Altria Group’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.31 EPS. Altria Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.350-5.450 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $1.06 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $4.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.4%. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. Altria Group’s payout ratio is currently 78.92%.

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.