Altria Group, Inc. $MO Shares Sold by Cypress Wealth Services LLC

Cypress Wealth Services LLC decreased its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 25.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,047 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,723 shares during the period. Cypress Wealth Services LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $296,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 158,117,225 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,490,196,000 after buying an additional 1,300,787 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Altria Group by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 63,288,773 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,798,592,000 after buying an additional 3,483,487 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC boosted its position 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 valued at $1,122,290,000 after buying an additional 18,471,846 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Altria Group by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 12,243,041 shares of the company’s stock valued at $734,827,000 after buying an additional 441,083 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Altria Group by 40.0% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 11,961,220 shares of the company’s stock valued at $717,913,000 after buying an additional 3,415,237 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MO shares. Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. UBS Group upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $47.00 to $59.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.11.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of Altria Group stock opened at $65.41 on Wednesday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $48.86 and a 52-week high of $68.60. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $65.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $61.32. The firm has a market cap of $109.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 0.55.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $5.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.21 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 37.24% and a negative return on equity of 295.26%. The business’s revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.31 earnings per share. Altria Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.350-5.450 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th were issued 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 yield of 6.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. Altria Group’s payout ratio is presently 82.01%.

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.