Altria Group, Inc. $MO Shares Sold by River Street Advisors LLC

River Street Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 18.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,539 shares of the company’s stock after selling 800 shares during the period. River Street Advisors LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $207,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Crews Bank & Trust raised its holdings in Altria Group by 7.1% in the 2nd quarter. Crews Bank & Trust now owns 3,035 shares of the company’s stock valued at $178,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Hilltop National Bank acquired a new position in Altria Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $788,000. Triad Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in Altria Group by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Triad Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,828 shares of the company’s stock valued at $576,000 after acquiring an additional 307 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Altria Group by 6.8% in the 2nd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,795,899 shares of the company’s stock valued at $105,294,000 after acquiring an additional 113,863 shares during the last quarter. Finally, J2 Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in Altria Group by 42.4% in the 2nd quarter. J2 Capital Management Inc now owns 7,448 shares of the company’s stock valued at $437,000 after acquiring an additional 2,218 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Altria Group Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of Altria Group stock opened at $65.74 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $65.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $60.86. Altria Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $48.86 and a twelve month high of $68.60. The stock has a market cap of $110.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.56 and a beta of 0.55.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced 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. Altria Group had a net margin of 37.24% and a negative return on equity of 295.26%. The firm had revenue of $5.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.21 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.31 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. Altria Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.350-5.450 EPS. Analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $1.06 per share. This is a positive change from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $4.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.4%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 82.01%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on MO. Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 price target on Altria Group in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. UBS Group raised shares of Altria Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $47.00 to $59.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $50.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $60.88.

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.