Altria Group, Inc. $MO Stock Holdings Lifted by Stegent Equity Advisors Inc.

Stegent Equity Advisors Inc. raised its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 170.8% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 22,112 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 13,948 shares during the quarter. Altria Group makes up approximately 1.1% of Stegent Equity Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 28th largest holding. Stegent Equity Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,296,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MO. GQG Partners LLC grew its stake in Altria Group by 8,146.4% in the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 18,698,594 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,122,290,000 after purchasing an additional 18,471,846 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the first quarter worth about $219,141,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position 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 worth $3,798,592,000 after buying an additional 3,483,487 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position 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 worth $717,913,000 after buying an additional 3,415,237 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 2,928,006 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on MO shares. Bank of America boosted their price target on Altria Group from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Altria Group in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $50.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Altria Group from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays boosted 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 boosted their price target on Altria Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Altria Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.11.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:MO opened at $64.72 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $65.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $61.72. Altria Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $49.58 and a twelve month high of $68.60. The company has a market cap of $108.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.52, a PEG ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.55.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $5.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.21 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.31 EPS. 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. Analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

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 paid a dividend of $1.06 per share. This represents a $4.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 15th. This is a positive change from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 82.01%.

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.