Wedbush Securities Inc. Sells 3,572 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. $MO

Wedbush Securities Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 10.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 31,585 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,572 shares during the quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,852,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MO. GQG Partners LLC boosted its position in Altria Group by 8,146.4% in the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 18,698,594 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,122,290,000 after buying an additional 18,471,846 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group during the first quarter valued at $219,141,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 5.8% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 63,288,773 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,798,592,000 after acquiring an additional 3,483,487 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 40.0% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 11,961,220 shares of the company’s stock valued at $717,913,000 after acquiring an additional 3,415,237 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its position in Altria Group by 111.3% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 5,558,252 shares of the company’s stock worth $333,606,000 after purchasing an additional 2,928,006 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $58.02 on Friday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $50.08 and a 52-week high of $68.60. The stock has a market cap of $97.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.22, a P/E/G ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.51. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $64.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $61.86.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.01. Altria Group had a net margin of 37.24% and a negative return on equity of 295.26%. The company had revenue of $5.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.31 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.38 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Altria Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.370-5.45 EPS. Analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, October 30th that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th were paid a $1.06 dividend. 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 yield of 7.3%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is presently 80.92%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on MO. Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Altria Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on Altria Group from $68.00 to $61.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.33.

Altria Group Company 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.