Railway Pension Investments Ltd Sells 129,900 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. $MO

Railway Pension Investments Ltd reduced its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 7.0% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,714,900 shares of the company’s stock after selling 129,900 shares during the period. Altria Group makes up 1.4% of Railway Pension Investments Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Railway Pension Investments Ltd’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $100,545,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. West Family Investments Inc. increased its stake in Altria Group by 42.5% in the 2nd quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 8,831 shares of the company’s stock valued at $518,000 after buying an additional 2,635 shares during the last quarter. Williamson Legacy Group LLC bought a new stake in Altria Group during the second quarter worth $1,098,000. Wealthquest Corp increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 15.6% during the 2nd quarter. Wealthquest Corp now owns 4,416 shares of the company’s stock valued at $259,000 after purchasing an additional 597 shares during the last quarter. Rinkey Investments purchased a new stake in Altria Group during the second quarter worth about $251,000. Finally, F m Investments LLC boosted its stake in Altria Group by 5.7% in the second quarter. F m Investments LLC now owns 28,025 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,643,000 after acquiring an additional 1,509 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MO shares. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Altria Group from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Altria Group from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 target price on Altria Group in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.33.

Altria Group Price Performance

NYSE MO opened at $58.98 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $61.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $61.79. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $50.08 and a 1 year high of $68.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.01 billion, a PE ratio of 11.41, a P/E/G ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.51.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $5.25 billion during 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%.Altria Group’s revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.38 earnings per share. Altria Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.370-5.45 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

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

About Altria Group

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.