Midwest Trust Co Invests $1.16 Million in Altria Group, Inc. $MO

Midwest Trust Co acquired a new position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 19,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,161,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MO. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group in the second quarter valued at $126,471,000. Central Valley Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Altria Group during the second quarter valued at $1,715,000. Invst LLC lifted its position in Altria Group by 252.0% during the first quarter. Invst LLC now owns 16,188 shares of the company’s stock valued at $972,000 after purchasing an additional 11,589 shares during the last quarter. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC now owns 79,019 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,633,000 after buying an additional 4,149 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 17.4% in the 2nd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,086,060 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,676,000 after buying an additional 161,356 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on MO shares. Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Altria Group from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Bank of America upped their price objective on Altria Group from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Barclays lifted their target price on Altria Group from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Altria Group in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Four research 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.33.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MO opened at $57.53 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $63.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $61.88. 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 $96.57 billion, a PE ratio of 11.13, a price-to-earnings-growth 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, 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 firm had revenue of $5.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.31 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.38 EPS. Altria Group’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Altria Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.370-5.45 EPS. Equities research analysts expect 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th were paid a dividend of $1.06 per share. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. Altria Group’s payout ratio is presently 80.92%.

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