Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Has $203.91 Million Stock Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. $MO

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,477,906 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 50,654 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $203,910,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the second quarter worth $126,471,000. Central Valley Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the second quarter worth $1,715,000. Invst LLC grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 252.0% in the first quarter. Invst LLC now owns 16,188 shares of the company’s stock worth $972,000 after acquiring an additional 11,589 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 17.4% in the second quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,086,060 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,676,000 after acquiring an additional 161,356 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stephens Inc. AR grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 55.5% in the second quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 230,342 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,698,000 after acquiring an additional 82,168 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised 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 note on Thursday, July 31st. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 price target on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $47.00 to $59.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Four 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.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.11.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.2%

Altria Group stock opened at $64.72 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $65.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $61.68. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $49.58 and a 12-month high of $68.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $108.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.52, a P/E/G ratio of 3.59 and a beta of 0.55.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.07. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 295.26% and a net margin of 37.24%.The business had revenue of $5.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.21 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $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 anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th were issued a dividend of $1.06 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. This represents a $4.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.6%. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.01%.

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.