Convergence Financial LLC Takes Position in Altria Group, Inc. $MO

Convergence Financial LLC purchased a new position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 4,611 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $270,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MO. GQG Partners LLC grew its stake in Altria Group by 8,146.4% in the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 18,698,594 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,122,290,000 after acquiring 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 valued at approximately $219,141,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 3,483,487 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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 purchasing an additional 3,415,237 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. grew its stake in Altria Group by 111.3% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 5,558,252 shares of the company’s stock worth $333,606,000 after purchasing an additional 2,928,006 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Trading Down 0.3%

MO opened at $57.16 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $95.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.06, a PEG ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.51. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $50.08 and a 12 month high of $68.60. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $64.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $61.87.

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

Altria Group announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, October 30th that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th were paid a dividend of $1.06 per share. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 15th. This represents a $4.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.4%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 80.92%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 price objective on Altria Group in a report on Thursday, August 21st. UBS Group dropped their price target on Altria Group from $68.00 to $61.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Altria Group from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Four investment 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. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.33.

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.