3,566 Shares in Altria Group, Inc. $MO Bought by D.B. Root & Company LLC

D.B. Root & Company LLC acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 3,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $214,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MO. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Altria Group during the first quarter worth $31,000. Sierra Ocean LLC lifted its stake in Altria Group by 226.3% during the first quarter. Sierra Ocean LLC now owns 509 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 353 shares during the last quarter. Pinney & Scofield Inc. bought a new position in Altria Group during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Bellwether Advisors LLC bought a new position in Altria Group during the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Finally, TruNorth Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Altria Group by 51.8% during the first quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 636 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MO. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Altria Group in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $50.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays raised their target price on Altria Group from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price 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. Wall Street Zen cut Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on Altria Group from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $60.00.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of MO opened at $67.6150 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $113.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 0.59. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $48.86 and a one year high of $68.60. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $61.07 and its 200-day moving average is $58.76.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.44 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%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.31 earnings per share. Altria Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.350-5.450 EPS. Analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.06 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.3%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 78.92%.

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.