Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. Purchases 1,183 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. $MO

Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. raised its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 19.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 7,372 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,183 shares during the quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $432,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MO. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Altria Group by 0.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 158,117,225 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,490,196,000 after acquiring an additional 1,300,787 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 5.8% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 63,288,773 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,798,592,000 after purchasing an additional 3,483,487 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 44,724,475 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,620,229,000 after purchasing an additional 764,221 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 8,146.4% in the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 18,698,594 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,122,290,000 after purchasing an additional 18,471,846 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Altria Group by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 12,243,041 shares of the company’s stock worth $734,827,000 after buying an additional 441,083 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Altria Group from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 price target on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Altria Group from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Four equities research 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, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.33.

Altria Group Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $58.97 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $62.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $61.85. The stock has a market cap of $98.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.41, a PEG 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.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $5.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.31 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 37.24% and a negative return on equity of 295.26%. The firm’s revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.38 earnings per share. Altria Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.370-5.45 EPS. Analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th were issued a $1.06 dividend. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. This represents a $4.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.2%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is presently 80.92%.

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