Altria Group, Inc. $MO Stock Position Lifted by Empowered Funds LLC

Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 413,566 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,494 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $24,247,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mattson Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Altria Group in the first quarter worth $25,000. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Altria Group in the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Carderock Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Compass Financial Services Inc grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 64.4% during the 1st quarter. Compass Financial Services Inc now owns 717 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 281 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. acquired a new stake in Altria Group during the first quarter worth about $44,000. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on MO shares. Barclays lifted their target price on Altria Group from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Altria Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 target price on Altria Group in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Morgan Stanley raised their target price 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. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. 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.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.33.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of MO stock opened at $58.16 on Tuesday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $50.08 and a 12-month high of $68.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $97.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.51. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $63.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $61.86.

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, topping 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 company had revenue of $5.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.31 billion. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.38 EPS. Altria Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.370-5.45 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

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

Altria Group announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, October 30th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is 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.