Belmont Capital LLC Purchases New Position in Altria Group, Inc. $MO

Key Points

• Belmont Capital LLC has acquired 4,800 shares of Altria Group, valued at approximately $288,000, marking its first investment reported in Form 13F.
• Altria Group has raised its quarterly dividend to $1.06 per share, with a yield of 6.3%, effective from October 10th for investors recorded by September 15th.
• The company reported an EPS of $1.44 for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations, while setting its FY 2025 guidance at 5.350-5.450 EPS.

Belmont Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 4,800 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $288,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sierra Ocean LLC grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 226.3% in the 1st quarter. Sierra Ocean LLC now owns 509 shares of the company's stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 353 shares during the period. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group in the 1st quarter valued at $31,000. Pinney & Scofield Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group in the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. TruNorth Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 51.8% in the 1st quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 636 shares of the company's stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 217 shares during the period. Finally, Abound Financial LLC acquired a new position in Altria Group in the 1st quarter worth $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company's stock.

Altria Group Price Performance

NYSE:MO traded down $0.07 on Friday, hitting $66.52. 5,935,439 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,133,504. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $62.56 and a 200-day moving average price of $59.74. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $48.86 and a 52 week high of $68.60. The company has a market cap of $111.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 0.59.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $5.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.21 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 37.24% and a negative return on equity of 295.26%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm 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 fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be issued a $1.06 dividend. This represents a $4.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. This is a positive change from Altria Group's previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. Altria Group's payout ratio is currently 78.92%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on MO shares. Morgan Stanley upped 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 note on Thursday, July 31st. Needham & Company LLC raised shares of Altria Group to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Altria Group from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Altria Group from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $47.00 to $59.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $60.88.

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.