Vest Financial LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. $MO

Vest Financial LLC lifted its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 39.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,248 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 6,552 shares during the quarter. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,363,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MO. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 64.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 17,702 shares of the company’s stock worth $926,000 after buying an additional 6,954 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 17.8% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 36,028 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,162,000 after buying an additional 5,440 shares in the last quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 2.5% in the first quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 18,009 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,081,000 after buying an additional 442 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 1.4% in the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 930,853 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,870,000 after buying an additional 12,768 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Adero Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the first quarter worth about $229,000. 57.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $65.41 on Wednesday. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $48.86 and a one year high of $68.60. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $65.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $61.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $109.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.65, a PEG 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 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.07. Altria Group had a net margin of 37.24% and a negative return on equity of 295.26%. The business had revenue of $5.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.21 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.31 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. Altria Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.350-5.450 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th were given a dividend of $1.06 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 15th. 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%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 82.01%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group raised shares of Altria Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $47.00 to $59.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $50.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their target price 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. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.11.

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.