Heritage Investors Management Corp Sells 5,690 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. $MO

Heritage Investors Management Corp reduced its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 19.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,445 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,690 shares during the period. Heritage Investors Management Corp’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,375,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MO. GQG Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 8,146.4% in the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 18,698,594 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,122,290,000 after purchasing an additional 18,471,846 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group during the first quarter valued at $219,141,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 5.8% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 63,288,773 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,798,592,000 after acquiring an additional 3,483,487 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 40.0% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 11,961,220 shares of the company’s stock valued at $717,913,000 after acquiring an additional 3,415,237 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 111.3% during the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 5,558,252 shares of the company’s stock valued at $333,606,000 after acquiring an additional 2,928,006 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Altria Group Price Performance

NYSE MO opened at $57.17 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $96.05 billion, a PE ratio of 11.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.55. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $50.08 and a one year high of $68.60. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $65.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $61.86.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.01. The business 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%.Altria Group’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.38 EPS. Altria Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.370-5.45 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th were given a $1.06 dividend. This represents a $4.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 15th. This is a positive change from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is 82.01%.

Altria Group announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, October 30th that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on MO shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Altria Group in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $50.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 price target on Altria Group in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target 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 given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.11.

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.