Altria Group, Inc. $MO Shares Bought by Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 15.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 85,850 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,430 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $5,033,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MO. Mattson Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Carderock Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the first quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 226.3% in the first quarter. Sierra Ocean LLC now owns 509 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 353 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on MO shares. UBS Group upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $47.00 to $59.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Altria Group from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Barclays raised their target price 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. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Altria Group in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Altria Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.11.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $65.41 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $109.87 billion, a PE ratio of 12.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 0.55. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $48.86 and a 12 month high of $68.60. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $65.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of $61.32.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.07. Altria Group had a net margin of 37.24% and a negative return on equity of 295.26%. The business had revenue of $5.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.21 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.31 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. Altria Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.350-5.450 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th were paid a dividend of $1.06 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. This represents a $4.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.5%. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 82.01%.

About Altria Group

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.