Diligent Investors LLC Sells 415 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. $MO

Diligent Investors LLC trimmed its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,083 shares of the company’s stock after selling 415 shares during the quarter. Diligent Investors LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $533,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. GQG Partners LLC increased its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 18,471,846 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the first quarter worth $219,141,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 5.8% in the first 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 in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 40.0% in the first 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. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 111.3% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 5,558,252 shares of the company’s stock valued at $333,606,000 after buying an additional 2,928,006 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Stock Down 0.1%

NYSE MO opened at $65.70 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $65.19 and its 200-day moving average is $60.93. The company has a market capitalization of $110.38 billion, a PE ratio of 12.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 0.55. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $48.86 and a 12-month high of $68.60.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $5.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.21 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.31 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. Altria Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.350-5.450 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.06 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. 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%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 82.01%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on MO. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Altria Group in a report on Saturday, September 27th. UBS Group raised shares of Altria Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $47.00 to $59.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Altria Group in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $50.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Altria Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.11.

Altria Group Company 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.