Byrne Asset Management LLC Grows Stock Position in Altria Group, Inc. $MO

Byrne Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 9.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,765 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 430 shares during the quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $279,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 158,117,225 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,490,196,000 after acquiring an additional 1,300,787 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 63,288,773 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,798,592,000 after buying an additional 3,483,487 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 8,146.4% during the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 18,698,594 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,122,290,000 after buying an additional 18,471,846 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 40.0% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 11,961,220 shares of the company’s stock valued at $717,913,000 after buying an additional 3,415,237 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Trading Down 2.7%

MO stock opened at $64.85 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $108.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.54, a P/E/G ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 0.59. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $48.86 and a 12-month high of $68.60. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $63.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $60.23.

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

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be given a $1.06 dividend. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is 78.92%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on MO. Bank of America increased their target price on Altria Group from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 target price on Altria Group in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Barclays increased their target price on Altria Group from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Needham & Company LLC upgraded Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Altria Group from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $60.88.

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.