Texas Permanent School Fund Corp Lowers Stake in Altria Group, Inc. $MO

Texas Permanent School Fund Corp cut its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 26.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 135,396 shares of the company’s stock after selling 48,875 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $7,938,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Altria Group by 1.0% in the 2nd 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 last quarter. TigerOak Management L.L.C. grew its position in Altria Group by 43.0% during the second quarter. TigerOak Management L.L.C. now owns 13,005 shares of the company’s stock valued at $762,000 after acquiring an additional 3,908 shares during the last quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group during the second quarter worth approximately $126,471,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 31.5% during the second quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 97,389 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,710,000 after acquiring an additional 23,331 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vise Technologies Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $5,388,000. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on MO. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Altria Group in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Altria Group from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 price objective on Altria Group in a report on Thursday, August 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Altria Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on Altria Group from $68.00 to $61.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.33.

Altria Group Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSE:MO opened at $59.10 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $60.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $61.76. The company has a market cap of $99.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 0.48. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $50.08 and a 12 month 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $5.25 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.31 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 319.43% and a net margin of 37.89%.Altria Group’s revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.38 EPS. Altria Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.370-5.45 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 26th will be paid a dividend of $1.06 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 26th. This represents a $4.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.2%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 80.92%.

Altria Group announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, October 30th that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.