14,927 Shares in Altria Group, Inc. $MO Acquired by Tradewinds LLC.

Tradewinds LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 14,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $986,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MO. CWA Asset Management Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 8.6% during the third quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 335,418 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,158,000 after acquiring an additional 26,624 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its stake in Altria Group by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 3,522,209 shares of the company’s stock valued at $232,677,000 after purchasing an additional 44,303 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Altria Group by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 159,717,148 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,364,216,000 after purchasing an additional 1,599,923 shares in the last quarter. TigerOak Management L.L.C. increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 43.0% during the 2nd quarter. TigerOak Management L.L.C. now owns 13,005 shares of the company’s stock valued at $762,000 after purchasing an additional 3,908 shares during the period. Finally, VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the 2nd quarter worth $126,471,000. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MO. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Altria Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $61.00 to $63.00 in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.56.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $61.84 on Monday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $50.08 and a 52-week high of $68.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $103.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.80, a PEG ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 0.47. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $58.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $61.58.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued 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 negative return on equity of 319.43% and a net margin of 37.89%.The firm had revenue of $5.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.31 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.38 EPS. Altria Group’s revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. Altria Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.370-5.45 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 9th. Investors of record on Friday, December 26th were given a $1.06 dividend. This represents a $4.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 26th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is 80.92%.

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

Altria Group Profile

Altria Group, Inc (NYSE: MO) is a U.S.-based consumer goods company whose principal business is the manufacture and sale of tobacco products. Headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, the company’s operations are focused primarily on the U.S. market and include the production, marketing and distribution of cigarettes, smokeless tobacco and cigars. Its flagship cigarette franchise in the United States is sold through its operating subsidiaries and is among the most recognizable cigarette brands in the country.

Altria’s principal operating businesses include Philip Morris USA (cigarettes), U.S.