North Star Asset Management Inc. Grows Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. $MO

North Star Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 10.4% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 36,598 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,446 shares during the period. North Star Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $2,146,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in Altria Group by 64.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 17,702 shares of the company’s stock worth $926,000 after purchasing an additional 6,954 shares during the last quarter. TCW Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 3.7% during the first quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 37,809 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,269,000 after buying an additional 1,349 shares in the last quarter. Vantage Financial Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 14.7% in the first quarter. Vantage Financial Partners LLC now owns 4,499 shares of the company’s stock worth $270,000 after buying an additional 576 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 10.4% in the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,213,427 shares of the company’s stock worth $132,850,000 after buying an additional 207,934 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Patten & Patten Inc. TN raised its holdings in Altria Group by 1.5% in the first quarter. Patten & Patten Inc. TN now owns 12,049 shares of the company’s stock valued at $723,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Altria Group Stock Up 1.8%

MO opened at $58.36 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $62.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $61.78. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $50.08 and a fifty-two week high of $68.60. The firm has a market cap of $97.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.51.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $5.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.38 earnings per share. Altria Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.370-5.45 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, October 30th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. 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 report on Thursday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Altria Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Altria Group in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Bank of America increased their target price on Altria Group from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on Altria Group from $68.00 to $61.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.