Baird Financial Group Inc. Decreases Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. $MO

Baird Financial Group Inc. decreased its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 448,276 shares of the company’s stock after selling 22,217 shares during the quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $26,282,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Westside Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Altria Group by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,816 shares of the company’s stock worth $224,000 after buying an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 0.6% in the first quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 26,335 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,581,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Bar Harbor Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 3.1% in the second quarter. Bar Harbor Wealth Management now owns 5,656 shares of the company’s stock worth $332,000 after acquiring an additional 169 shares during the last quarter. Parcion Private Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 1.6% during the second quarter. Parcion Private Wealth LLC now owns 11,172 shares of the company’s stock worth $655,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisory Alpha LLC raised its stake in Altria Group by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 11,381 shares of the company’s stock valued at $683,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Price Performance

Altria Group stock opened at $58.00 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $61.77. The stock has a market cap of $97.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.48. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $50.08 and a 1-year high of $68.60.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $5.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.31 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 319.43% and a net margin of 37.89%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.38 earnings per share. Altria Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.370-5.45 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Altria Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. 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 report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued 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 given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.33.

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.