14,596 Shares in Altria Group, Inc. $MO Acquired by Summit Global Investments

Summit Global Investments bought a new position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 14,596 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $856,000.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the second quarter worth $1,915,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC purchased a new position in Altria Group in the 2nd quarter worth $3,107,000. Walled Lake Planning & Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Altria Group by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Walled Lake Planning & Wealth Management LLC now owns 117,756 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,904,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares during the period. Left Brain Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Altria Group by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Left Brain Wealth Management LLC now owns 26,805 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,572,000 after acquiring an additional 266 shares during the period. Finally, Providence Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Altria Group by 49.8% during the 2nd quarter. Providence Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 12,702 shares of the company’s stock valued at $804,000 after purchasing an additional 4,220 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Trading Down 1.7%

Altria Group stock opened at $57.19 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $96.01 billion, a PE ratio of 11.06, a P/E/G ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.51. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $50.08 and a 12 month high of $68.60. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $62.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $61.79.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $5.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.31 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.38 EPS. The business’s 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. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MO has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Bank of America raised 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. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.