Providence Wealth Advisors LLC Raises Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. $MO

Providence Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 49.8% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 12,702 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 4,220 shares during the quarter. Providence Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $804,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 1.0% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 159,717,148 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,364,216,000 after acquiring an additional 1,599,923 shares during the last quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new position in Altria Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $126,471,000. Central Valley Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Altria Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,715,000. Invst LLC boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 252.0% during the 1st quarter. Invst LLC now owns 16,188 shares of the company’s stock worth $972,000 after purchasing an additional 11,589 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TigerOak Management L.L.C. boosted its stake 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 worth $762,000 after purchasing an additional 3,908 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Stock Down 0.0%

MO stock opened at $58.16 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $97.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.25, a PEG ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.51. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $62.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $61.80. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $50.08 and a 52 week high of $68.60.

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

Altria Group announced that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, October 30th that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $68.00 to $61.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Morgan Stanley increased their price target 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. Barclays raised their price objective on Altria Group from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Four investment 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 currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.