Atria Investments Inc Increases Stake in Altria Group, Inc. $MO

Atria Investments Inc grew its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 105,211 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,588 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $6,169,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Spinnaker Trust raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 3.8% in the second quarter. Spinnaker Trust now owns 12,070 shares of the company’s stock valued at $708,000 after acquiring an additional 437 shares during the period. Savvy Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Altria Group by 13.2% in the 2nd quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 18,492 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,084,000 after buying an additional 2,150 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in Altria Group by 11.7% in the 2nd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 2,534,031 shares of the company’s stock worth $148,570,000 after buying an additional 264,923 shares during the period. Keybank National Association OH increased its stake in Altria Group by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 133,756 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,842,000 after buying an additional 5,149 shares during the period. Finally, Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in Altria Group by 13.8% in the 2nd quarter. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,353 shares of the company’s stock worth $548,000 after buying an additional 1,131 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on MO shares. UBS Group reduced their price target 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. 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 research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Altria Group from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Altria Group in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $50.00 target price on the stock. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Altria Group has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.33.

Altria Group Stock Performance

NYSE:MO opened at $56.45 on Friday. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $50.08 and a fifty-two week high of $68.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $94.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.92, a P/E/G ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.55. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $65.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $61.86.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.31 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.38 EPS. The company’s 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. On average, research analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th were issued a $1.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 15th. This represents a $4.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.5%. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 82.01%.

Altria Group announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, October 30th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.