Altria Group, Inc. $MO Shares Purchased by MBL Wealth LLC

MBL Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 28.2% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 6,501 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,431 shares during the period. MBL Wealth LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $390,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MO. GQG Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 8,146.4% during 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. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group during the first quarter worth about $219,141,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake 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 worth $3,798,592,000 after acquiring an additional 3,483,487 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake 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 worth $717,913,000 after acquiring an additional 3,415,237 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its stake 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 worth $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 and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on MO shares. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $47.00 to $59.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. 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. Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 price target on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised shares of Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $60.88.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of MO opened at $66.26 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $111.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.82, a PEG ratio of 3.56 and a beta of 0.59. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $63.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.94. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $48.86 and a 1 year high of $68.60.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $5.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.21 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 37.24% and a negative return on equity of 295.26%. Altria Group’s revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.31 earnings per share. Altria Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.350-5.450 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be given a $1.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.4%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 78.92%.

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.