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

RiverFront Investment Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 10.5% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. 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 quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MO. XTX Topco Ltd raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 46.3% during the second quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 99,795 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,851,000 after purchasing an additional 31,603 shares during the period. One Charles Private Wealth Services LLC bought a new stake in Altria Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $202,000. NDVR Inc. raised its holdings in Altria Group by 11.2% during the 2nd quarter. NDVR Inc. now owns 3,728 shares of the company’s stock worth $219,000 after buying an additional 376 shares during the period. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its holdings in Altria Group by 8.8% during the 2nd quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 144,895 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,495,000 after buying an additional 11,697 shares during the period. Finally, Insigneo Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in Altria Group by 9.8% in the second quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC now owns 12,046 shares of the company’s stock valued at $706,000 after buying an additional 1,076 shares in the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MO. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $68.00 to $61.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 target price on Altria Group in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Bank of America boosted their price target on Altria Group from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Altria Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.33.

Altria Group Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of MO stock opened at $58.36 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $62.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $61.78. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $50.08 and a 1 year high of $68.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $97.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.29, a PEG ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.51.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $5.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.31 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 37.24% and a negative return on equity of 295.26%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.38 EPS. Altria Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.370-5.45 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, October 30th that authorizes the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership 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.