Intech Investment Management LLC Purchases 85,417 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. $MO

Intech Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 40.7% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 295,230 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 85,417 shares during the quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $17,309,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. MJP Associates Inc. ADV boosted its position in Altria Group by 17.9% during the second quarter. MJP Associates Inc. ADV now owns 5,526 shares of the company’s stock valued at $324,000 after acquiring an additional 838 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 2.4% during the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 1,201,924 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,469,000 after acquiring an additional 28,042 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning raised its holdings in Altria Group by 4.3% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 647,934 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,988,000 after buying an additional 26,751 shares during the last quarter. OmniStar Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Altria Group by 6.5% in the 2nd quarter. OmniStar Financial Group Inc. now owns 31,112 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,824,000 after acquiring an additional 1,909 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meridian Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 2.5% during the second quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC now owns 15,283 shares of the company’s stock valued at $893,000 after buying an additional 374 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Price Performance

Altria Group stock opened at $58.15 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $97.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.25, a PEG ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.51. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $50.08 and a one year high of $68.60. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $63.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $61.82.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its 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 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 analyst estimates of $5.31 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.38 EPS. The company’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. Sell-side 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 approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, October 30th that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th were issued a $1.06 dividend. This represents a $4.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 80.92%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on MO. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target 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. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Altria Group from $68.00 to $61.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 31st. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Altria Group from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, 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. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.33.

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.