AQR Capital Management LLC Has $271.41 Million Stock Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. $MO

AQR Capital Management LLC reduced its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 16.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,643,814 shares of the company’s stock after selling 886,363 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $271,408,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 1.0% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 159,717,148 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,364,216,000 after buying an additional 1,599,923 shares during the period. TigerOak Management L.L.C. increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 43.0% during the second quarter. TigerOak Management L.L.C. now owns 13,005 shares of the company’s stock valued at $762,000 after acquiring an additional 3,908 shares during the last quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new position in Altria Group in the second quarter valued at about $126,471,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 31.5% during the 2nd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 97,389 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,710,000 after acquiring an additional 23,331 shares during the period. Finally, Vise Technologies Inc. bought a new stake in Altria Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $5,388,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of MO opened at $58.76 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $98.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.21, a PEG ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 0.48. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $50.08 and a one year high of $68.60. The business has a fifty day moving average of $60.48 and a 200 day moving average of $61.73.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.01. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 319.43% and a net margin of 37.89%.The company had revenue of $5.25 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.31 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.38 earnings per share. Altria Group’s 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 expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

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

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

MO has been the subject of a number of research reports. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Altria Group from $68.00 to $61.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Four investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Altria Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.