Gardner Russo & Quinn LLC Has $11.22 Million Stock Position in Altria Group, Inc. $MO

Gardner Russo & Quinn LLC lessened its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 22.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 191,440 shares of the company’s stock after selling 55,208 shares during the period. Altria Group makes up about 0.1% of Gardner Russo & Quinn LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Gardner Russo & Quinn LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $11,224,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 1.0% in 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 in the last quarter. TigerOak Management L.L.C. raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 43.0% in the second quarter. TigerOak Management L.L.C. now owns 13,005 shares of the company’s stock worth $762,000 after buying an additional 3,908 shares in the last quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new position in Altria Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $126,471,000. Central Valley Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,715,000. Finally, Invst LLC grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 252.0% during the 1st quarter. Invst LLC now owns 16,188 shares of the company’s stock valued at $972,000 after purchasing an additional 11,589 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Altria Group stock opened at $58.98 on Monday. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $50.08 and a one year high of $68.60. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $61.86 and a 200 day moving average of $61.82. The stock has a market cap of $99.01 billion, a PE ratio of 11.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.51.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released 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. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 295.26% and a net margin of 37.24%.The business had revenue of $5.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.31 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.38 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Altria Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.370-5.45 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, October 30th that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on MO. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Barclays raised their price objective on Altria Group from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. UBS Group reduced 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 note on Friday, October 31st. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 price objective on Altria Group in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Altria Group has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.33.

Altria Group Company 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.