Clarius Group LLC Cuts Position in Altria Group, Inc. $MO

Clarius Group LLC lessened its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 16,803 shares of the company’s stock after selling 659 shares during the quarter. Clarius Group LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $985,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings 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 worth $9,490,196,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300,787 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $3,798,592,000 after purchasing an additional 3,483,487 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 18,471,846 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 12,243,041 shares of the company’s stock worth $734,827,000 after purchasing an additional 441,083 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 40.0% in the 1st 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 during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $65.70 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $65.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $60.93. The firm has a market cap of $110.38 billion, a PE ratio of 12.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 0.55. Altria Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $48.86 and a twelve month high of $68.60.

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

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $1.06 per share. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $4.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.5%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 82.01%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Altria Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group upgraded Altria Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $47.00 to $59.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Barclays lifted their target price on Altria Group from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 target price on Altria Group in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Altria Group from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.11.

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.