Altria Group, Inc. $MO Shares Sold by Fayez Sarofim & Co

Fayez Sarofim & Co lowered its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 5.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,434,016 shares of the company’s stock after selling 292,913 shares during the period. Fayez Sarofim & Co owned approximately 0.32% of Altria Group worth $318,596,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of MO. GQG Partners LLC increased its stake in Altria Group by 8,146.4% in the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 18,698,594 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,122,290,000 after buying an additional 18,471,846 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group during the first quarter worth about $219,141,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Altria Group by 40.0% in 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 period. Raymond James Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 111.3% in the 1st 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. Finally, VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new stake in Altria Group in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $126,471,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Altria Group Stock Performance

MO opened at $58.09 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $97.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.09, a PEG ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.48. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $50.08 and a one year high of $68.60. The business’s fifty day moving average is $61.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $61.79.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.01. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 319.43% and a net margin of 37.89%.The business had revenue of $5.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.31 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.38 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. Altria Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.370-5.45 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, October 30th that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Altria Group Company 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.