Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. Purchases 55,162 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. $MO

Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 13.6% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 462,030 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 55,162 shares during the quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $27,779,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MO. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 158,117,225 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,490,196,000 after acquiring an additional 1,300,787 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 3,483,487 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Altria Group by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 44,724,475 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,620,229,000 after purchasing an additional 764,221 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC raised its position in Altria Group by 8,146.4% in the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 18,698,594 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,122,290,000 after acquiring an additional 18,471,846 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 12,243,041 shares of the company’s stock valued at $734,827,000 after buying an additional 441,083 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Stock Performance

NYSE MO opened at $58.16 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $63.13 and a 200-day moving average price of $61.86. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $50.08 and a one year high of $68.60. The company has a market capitalization of $97.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.25, a P/E/G 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. The firm 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 quarterly revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last 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 predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th were given a dividend of $1.06 per share. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. This represents a $4.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.3%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 80.92%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on MO shares. UBS Group cut their price objective on Altria Group from $68.00 to $61.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 price objective on Altria Group in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays boosted their price target on Altria Group from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Altria Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Four 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.33.

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.