HORAN Wealth LLC Buys New Position in Altria Group, Inc. $MO

HORAN Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 3,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $230,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MO. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 64.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 17,702 shares of the company’s stock worth $926,000 after acquiring an additional 6,954 shares in the last quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 235.7% in the first quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 14,890 shares of the company’s stock worth $893,000 after acquiring an additional 10,454 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 7.9% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,885,945 shares of the company’s stock worth $233,234,000 after acquiring an additional 284,520 shares in the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 7.7% in the first quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 6,751 shares of the company’s stock worth $405,000 after acquiring an additional 485 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stratos Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 59.9% in the first quarter. Stratos Investment Management LLC now owns 8,935 shares of the company’s stock worth $536,000 after acquiring an additional 3,347 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of Altria Group stock opened at $57.16 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $95.95 billion, a PE ratio of 11.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.51. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $50.08 and a 52 week high of $68.60. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $64.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $61.87.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $5.25 billion during 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 company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.38 earnings per share. Altria Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.370-5.45 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th were given 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.4%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 80.92%.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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