Altria Group, Inc. $MO Shares Sold by Northstar Financial Companies Inc.

Northstar Financial Companies Inc. lessened its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 17.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,437 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,035 shares during the quarter. Northstar Financial Companies Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $553,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MO. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 64.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 17,702 shares of the company’s stock valued at $926,000 after acquiring an additional 6,954 shares in the last quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 43.5% during the first quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 1,528 shares of the company’s stock worth $92,000 after purchasing an additional 463 shares during the period. PFG Advisors lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 4.3% in the first quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 6,809 shares of the company’s stock worth $409,000 after acquiring an additional 279 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Altria Group by 11.0% during the 1st quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,017 shares of the company’s stock valued at $421,000 after purchasing an additional 697 shares during the period. Finally, Pinnacle Associates Ltd. increased its position in Altria Group by 6.4% in the first quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 52,006 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,121,000 after buying an additional 3,122 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on MO. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Altria Group from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Altria Group from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Bank of America upped their price target 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. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective 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. 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.33.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of MO opened at $58.19 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $62.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $61.80. The stock has a market cap of $97.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.25, a PEG ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.51. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $50.08 and a one year high of $68.60.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $1.45 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 business had revenue of $5.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.31 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.38 EPS. The firm’s quarterly 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. Analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current year.

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

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.