GoalVest Advisory LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. $MO

GoalVest Advisory LLC raised its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 2.9% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 28,734 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 815 shares during the period. GoalVest Advisory LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,685,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 0.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 158,117,225 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,490,196,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300,787 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised 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 purchasing an additional 3,483,487 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC raised 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 purchasing an additional 18,471,846 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 3.7% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 12,243,041 shares of the company’s stock worth $734,827,000 after purchasing an additional 441,083 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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 purchasing 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 Stock Performance

NYSE:MO opened at $64.72 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $65.76 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $61.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $108.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.52, a PEG ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.55. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $49.58 and a 1 year high of $68.60.

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

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th were issued a $1.06 dividend. This represents a $4.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.6%. This is a positive change from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 82.01%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Friday. UBS Group upgraded Altria Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $47.00 to $59.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Bank of America increased their price objective on Altria Group from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Altria Group from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Altria Group in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $50.00 price objective for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.11.

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.