AQR Capital Management LLC Sells 886,363 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. $MO

AQR Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 16.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,643,814 shares of the company’s stock after selling 886,363 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC owned about 0.28% of Altria Group worth $271,408,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in Altria Group by 64.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 17,702 shares of the company’s stock worth $926,000 after acquiring an additional 6,954 shares during the last quarter. Prudential PLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group in the 1st quarter valued at about $328,000. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 100.4% in the first quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 85,006 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,102,000 after acquiring an additional 42,595 shares during the last quarter. Azimuth Capital Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 10.8% during the 1st quarter. Azimuth Capital Investment Management LLC now owns 10,250 shares of the company’s stock worth $615,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Horizon Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 30,695 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,842,000 after purchasing an additional 1,085 shares in the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.1%

MO stock opened at $58.76 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $60.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $61.73. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $50.08 and a 52 week high of $68.60. The company has a market cap of $98.64 billion, a PE ratio of 11.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 0.48.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $5.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.31 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 37.89% and a negative return on equity of 319.43%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.38 earnings per share. Altria Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.370-5.45 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, October 30th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 26th will be paid a dividend of $1.06 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 26th. This represents a $4.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.2%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is presently 80.92%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $68.00 to $61.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Altria Group in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped 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. Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 price objective on Altria Group in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.