Montag A & Associates Inc. Sells 916 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. $MO

Montag A & Associates Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 10.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,709 shares of the company’s stock after selling 916 shares during the quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $460,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. 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. grew its stake in Altria Group by 40.0% in 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 in the last quarter. 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Price Performance

MO opened at $58.09 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $97.52 billion, a PE ratio of 11.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.51. The business’s 50-day moving average is $63.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $61.85. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $50.08 and a 1 year high of $68.60.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. Altria Group had a net margin of 37.24% and a negative return on equity of 295.26%. The business had revenue of $5.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.31 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.38 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Altria Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.370-5.45 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect 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 repurchase program on Thursday, October 30th that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Altria Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.33.

About Altria Group

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.