6,439 Shares in Altria Group, Inc. $MO Purchased by Syverson Strege & Co

Syverson Strege & Co acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 6,439 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $377,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $126,471,000. Central Valley Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Altria Group in the second quarter valued at about $1,715,000. Invst LLC raised its stake in Altria Group by 252.0% in the first quarter. Invst LLC now owns 16,188 shares of the company’s stock valued at $972,000 after buying an additional 11,589 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its stake in Altria Group by 17.4% in the second quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,086,060 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,676,000 after buying an additional 161,356 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Members Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $227,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of Altria Group stock opened at $56.45 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $94.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.92, a PEG ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.55. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $50.08 and a fifty-two week high of $68.60. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $65.11 and a 200 day moving average of $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 the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $5.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.31 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.38 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. Altria Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.370-5.45 EPS. Analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, October 30th that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th were paid a $1.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. This is a positive change from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.5%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 82.01%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on MO. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. UBS Group reduced their price target on Altria Group from $68.00 to $61.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Altria Group in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $50.00 target price for the company. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.33.

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.