Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. Purchases Shares of 9,962 Altria Group, Inc. $MO

Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. purchased a new stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 9,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $584,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MO. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $126,471,000. Central Valley Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,715,000. 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 acquiring an additional 11,589 shares in the last quarter. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC now owns 79,019 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,633,000 after acquiring an additional 4,149 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 17.4% during the 2nd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,086,060 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,676,000 after acquiring an additional 161,356 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on MO shares. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 price target on shares of Altria Group in a report on Thursday, August 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the company 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 report on Wednesday, October 8th. Four equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Altria Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.33.

Altria Group Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of NYSE:MO opened at $56.45 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $94.83 billion, a PE ratio of 10.92, a P/E/G ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.55. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $50.08 and a 1 year high of $68.60. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $65.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $61.92.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. Altria Group’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.38 earnings per share. Altria Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.370-5.45 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th were given a dividend of $1.06 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. This represents a $4.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.5%. This is a positive change from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 80.92%.

Altria Group declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, October 30th that permits the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to buy up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors 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.