Burney Co. Boosts Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. $MO

Burney Co. increased its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 151.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,912 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,006 shares during the period. Burney Co.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,167,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MMA Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $553,000. iA Global Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 174.8% during the 2nd quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 245,569 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,398,000 after acquiring an additional 156,204 shares in the last quarter. Smith Shellnut Wilson LLC ADV raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 14.2% during the 2nd quarter. Smith Shellnut Wilson LLC ADV now owns 8,404 shares of the company’s stock worth $493,000 after acquiring an additional 1,045 shares in the last quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 18,421 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,080,000 after acquiring an additional 412 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gilbert & Cook Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 5.3% during the 2nd quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 11,044 shares of the company’s stock worth $648,000 after acquiring an additional 551 shares in the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America upped their price objective on Altria Group from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Altria Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Altria Group from $68.00 to $61.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 target price on Altria Group in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.33.

Altria Group Stock Performance

NYSE MO opened at $57.29 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $64.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $61.91. The company has a market cap of $96.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.08, a P/E/G ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.51. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $50.08 and a fifty-two week high of $68.60.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.01. The company 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%.Altria Group’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.38 EPS. Altria Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.370-5.45 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict 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 was paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th were given 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.4%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 80.92%.

Altria Group declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, October 30th that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.