Altria Group, Inc. $MO Stock Position Reduced by Rathbones Group PLC

Rathbones Group PLC decreased its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 93,906 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,751 shares during the period. Rathbones Group PLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $5,506,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 0.8% in 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 period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings 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 period. GQG Partners LLC raised its holdings 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 period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 12,243,041 shares of the company’s stock worth $734,827,000 after buying an additional 441,083 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 40.0% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 11,961,220 shares of the company’s stock worth $717,913,000 after buying an additional 3,415,237 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Altria Group Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of NYSE:MO opened at $58.02 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $64.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $61.89. The company has a market cap of $97.40 billion, a PE ratio of 11.22, a P/E/G ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.51. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $50.08 and a fifty-two week high of $68.60.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $5.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.31 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 37.24% and a negative return on equity of 295.26%. Altria Group’s revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.38 earnings per share. Altria Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.370-5.45 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, October 30th that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th were given a $1.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 15th. This represents a $4.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.3%. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 80.92%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MO. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $68.00 to $61.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Bank of America lifted 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. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Altria Group from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays increased their price target on Altria Group from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Altria Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. 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 MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.33.

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.