Wedbush Securities Inc. Has $1.85 Million Stake in Altria Group, Inc. $MO

Wedbush Securities Inc. cut its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 10.2% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm 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 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MO. Chancellor Financial Group WB LP boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 4.5% during the second quarter. Chancellor Financial Group WB LP now owns 6,452 shares of the company’s stock worth $378,000 after buying an additional 279 shares during the period. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Altria Group by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,941 shares of the company’s stock valued at $290,000 after buying an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC lifted its stake in Altria Group by 8.0% in the 2nd quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 111,061 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,511,000 after acquiring an additional 8,273 shares in the last quarter. Forbes Financial Planning Inc. acquired a new position in Altria Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $328,000. Finally, Horizon Investment Services LLC boosted its position in Altria Group by 5.7% during the 2nd quarter. Horizon Investment Services LLC now owns 3,680 shares of the company’s stock worth $216,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of MO stock opened at $58.02 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $64.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $61.86. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $50.08 and a one year 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.

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

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

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 paid a $1.06 dividend. This is a positive change from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 15th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 80.92%.

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.