RiverFront Investment Group LLC Has $1.14 Million Position in Altria Group, Inc. $MO

RiverFront Investment Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 10.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 19,494 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,848 shares during the period. RiverFront Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,143,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. GQG Partners LLC lifted its position in Altria Group by 8,146.4% during the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 18,698,594 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,122,290,000 after buying an additional 18,471,846 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group in the first quarter worth about $219,141,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 5.8% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 63,288,773 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,798,592,000 after purchasing an additional 3,483,487 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 40.0% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 11,961,220 shares of the company’s stock valued at $717,913,000 after purchasing an additional 3,415,237 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 111.3% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 5,558,252 shares of the company’s stock valued at $333,606,000 after purchasing an additional 2,928,006 shares in the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on MO. Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 price objective on Altria Group in a report on Thursday, August 21st. UBS Group dropped their target price on Altria Group from $68.00 to $61.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Altria Group from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price 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. Four 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.33.

Altria Group Stock Up 1.8%

NYSE:MO opened at $58.36 on Wednesday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $50.08 and a 12-month high of $68.60. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $62.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $61.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $97.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.29, a P/E/G ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.51.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $5.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.31 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.38 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. Altria Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.370-5.45 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, October 30th that permits the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically 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.