Bank of Montreal Can Has $134.77 Million Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. $MO

Bank of Montreal Can lessened its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 12.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,298,568 shares of the company’s stock after selling 339,024 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can owned 0.14% of Altria Group worth $134,765,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MO. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 64.7% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 17,702 shares of the company’s stock valued at $926,000 after purchasing an additional 6,954 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 10,912 shares of the company’s stock valued at $655,000 after purchasing an additional 369 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 24.4% in the 1st quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 45,562 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,735,000 after purchasing an additional 8,939 shares during the last quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 235.7% in the 1st quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 14,890 shares of the company’s stock valued at $893,000 after purchasing an additional 10,454 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 7.9% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,885,945 shares of the company’s stock valued at $233,234,000 after purchasing an additional 284,520 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on MO. UBS Group cut their target price 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. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.33.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of MO opened at $56.63 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $64.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $61.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $95.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.95, a P/E/G ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.55. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $50.08 and a 52 week high of $68.60.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $5.25 billion during 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%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior 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 forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th were given a dividend of $1.06 per share. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 80.92%.

Altria Group declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, October 30th that authorizes the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.