Thompson Davis & CO. Inc. Invests $769,000 in Altria Group, Inc. $MO

Thompson Davis & CO. Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 13,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $769,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MO. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 64.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 17,702 shares of the company’s stock valued at $926,000 after buying an additional 6,954 shares in the last quarter. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Altria Group by 10.3% in the 1st quarter. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,985 shares of the company’s stock valued at $359,000 after acquiring an additional 557 shares in the last quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group in the first quarter worth $320,000. Dakota Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 6.9% during the first quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 12,903 shares of the company’s stock valued at $775,000 after buying an additional 828 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prevail Innovative Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 202.1% during the 1st quarter. Prevail Innovative Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 12,434 shares of the company’s stock valued at $746,000 after acquiring an additional 8,318 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MO has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Altria Group from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays increased their target price on Altria Group from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 price objective on Altria Group in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Altria Group from $68.00 to $61.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.33.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MO opened at $57.68 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $96.83 billion, a PE ratio of 11.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.51. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $63.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $61.85. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $50.08 and a 1 year high of $68.60.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $5.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.38 EPS. Altria Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.370-5.45 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th were issued a $1.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 15th. This is a boost 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 currently 80.92%.

Altria Group announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, October 30th that authorizes the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.