Altria Group, Inc. $MO Stock Holdings Decreased by Hikari Tsushin Inc.

Hikari Tsushin Inc. lowered its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 43.0% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 158,366 shares of the company’s stock after selling 119,591 shares during the quarter. Altria Group makes up 0.7% of Hikari Tsushin Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 18th largest holding. Hikari Tsushin Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $9,285,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MO. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in Altria Group by 64.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 17,702 shares of the company’s stock valued at $926,000 after buying an additional 6,954 shares during the period. GW&K Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 43.5% in the 1st quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 1,528 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,000 after purchasing an additional 463 shares during the period. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 21,627 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,298,000 after purchasing an additional 655 shares during the period. PFG Advisors lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 4.3% in the first quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 6,809 shares of the company’s stock worth $409,000 after purchasing an additional 279 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 10.7% during the first quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,279 shares of the company’s stock worth $377,000 after purchasing an additional 609 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on MO. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Altria Group from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Altria Group from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 target price on Altria Group in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Altria Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.33.

Altria Group Trading Down 0.6%

MO stock opened at $58.60 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $98.37 billion, a PE ratio of 11.33, a PEG ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.51. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $50.08 and a 1 year high of $68.60. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $62.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $61.83.

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

Altria Group announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, October 30th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board 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.