Teacher Retirement System of Texas Sells 30,907 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. $MO

Teacher Retirement System of Texas lessened its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 2.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,077,264 shares of the company’s stock after selling 30,907 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas owned approximately 0.06% of Altria Group worth $63,160,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Mattson Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Altria Group during the first quarter worth $25,000. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Altria Group during the second quarter worth $25,000. Carderock Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Altria Group during the second quarter worth $26,000. Sierra Ocean LLC lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 226.3% during the first quarter. Sierra Ocean LLC now owns 509 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 353 shares during the period. Finally, TruNorth Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 51.8% during the first quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 636 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 217 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price target on Altria Group from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 target price on Altria Group in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Altria Group from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price 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, Bank of America raised their target price on Altria Group from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.11.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $64.72 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $108.73 billion, a PE ratio of 12.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.55. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $49.58 and a fifty-two week high of $68.60. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $65.76 and a 200-day moving average of $61.76.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $5.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.21 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 295.26% and a net margin of 37.24%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.31 earnings per share. Altria Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.350-5.450 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th were given a $1.06 dividend. This represents a $4.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.6%. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 15th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.01%.

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.