Altria Group, Inc. $MO Shares Bought by Foundations Investment Advisors LLC

Foundations Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 28.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 313,541 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 69,526 shares during the period. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $18,383,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MO. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new position in Altria Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $126,471,000. Central Valley Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the second quarter worth $1,715,000. Invst LLC grew its stake in Altria Group by 252.0% in the 1st quarter. Invst LLC now owns 16,188 shares of the company’s stock worth $972,000 after acquiring an additional 11,589 shares in the last quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. purchased a new position in Altria Group during the 2nd quarter worth $5,388,000. Finally, Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 5.5% in the second quarter. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC now owns 79,019 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,633,000 after acquiring an additional 4,149 shares in the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on MO. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Altria Group from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Altria Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 price target on shares of Altria Group in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target 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. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.33.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.6%

MO stock opened at $58.15 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $63.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $61.82. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $50.08 and a fifty-two week high of $68.60. The stock has a market cap of $97.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.25, a PEG ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.51.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $5.25 billion for 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter 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. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th were paid a $1.06 dividend. 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 an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 80.92%.

Altria Group announced that its board 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are 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.