Private Management Group Inc. Makes New $3.22 Million Investment in Altria Group, Inc. $MO

Private Management Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 54,879 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,218,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Altria Group by 1.0% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 159,717,148 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,364,216,000 after buying an additional 1,599,923 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Altria Group by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 63,288,773 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,798,592,000 after acquiring an additional 3,483,487 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Altria Group by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 44,724,475 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,620,229,000 after acquiring an additional 764,221 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 8,146.4% during the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 18,698,594 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,122,290,000 after purchasing an additional 18,471,846 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 3.7% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 12,243,041 shares of the company’s stock worth $734,827,000 after purchasing an additional 441,083 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MO has been the topic of several recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Barclays boosted 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 company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Bank of America boosted their target price on Altria Group from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Altria Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Altria Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.33.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of MO stock opened at $58.16 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $62.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $61.80. The stock has a market cap of $97.63 billion, a PE ratio of 11.25, a P/E/G ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.51. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $50.08 and a 1 year high of $68.60.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced 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. The business had revenue of $5.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.31 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 295.26% and a net margin of 37.24%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.38 earnings per share. Altria Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.370-5.45 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, October 30th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.