BFI Infinity Ltd. Raises Position in Altria Group, Inc. $MO

BFI Infinity Ltd. boosted its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 10.8% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,843 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 375 shares during the quarter. BFI Infinity Ltd.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $225,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MO. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 88.5% in the first quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 8,536 shares of the company’s stock worth $512,000 after buying an additional 4,007 shares in the last quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group in the second quarter worth about $1,715,000. Invst LLC lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 252.0% in the first quarter. Invst LLC now owns 16,188 shares of the company’s stock worth $972,000 after buying an additional 11,589 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 17.4% in the second quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,086,060 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,676,000 after buying an additional 161,356 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Carr Financial Group Corp purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group in the second quarter worth about $241,000. 57.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on MO shares. UBS Group raised shares of Altria Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $47.00 to $59.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. 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 raised their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $50.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Altria Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $60.88.

Altria Group Trading Down 0.2%

Altria Group stock opened at $65.58 on Tuesday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $48.86 and a 12-month high of $68.60. The stock has a market cap of $110.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.68, a PEG ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $64.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $60.73.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.07. Altria Group had a net margin of 37.24% and a negative return on equity of 295.26%. The business had revenue of $5.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.21 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.31 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. Altria Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.350-5.450 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $1.06 per share. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 82.01%.

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.