AQR Capital Management LLC Has $328.88 Million Stock Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. $MO

Key Points

• AQR Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in Altria Group, Inc. by 5.7%, selling 332,648 shares and retaining approximately 0.33% ownership worth $328.88 million.
• Altria Group announced an increase in its quarterly dividend to $1.06 per share, which will be distributed on October 10th, representing a yield of 6.3%.
• The company reported a Q2 EPS of $1.44, exceeding estimates, and set its FY 2025 guidance at $5.350 - $5.450 EPS.

AQR Capital Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) by 5.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,530,177 shares of the company's stock after selling 332,648 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC owned about 0.33% of Altria Group worth $328,880,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MO. GQG Partners LLC boosted its stake in Altria Group by 8,146.4% during the 1st 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 during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Altria Group during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $219,141,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Altria Group by 5.8% during 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 purchasing an additional 3,483,487 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Altria Group by 40.0% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 11,961,220 shares of the company's stock valued at $717,913,000 after purchasing an additional 3,415,237 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Altria Group by 111.3% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 5,558,252 shares of the company's stock valued at $333,606,000 after purchasing an additional 2,928,006 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MO has been the subject of a number of research reports. Bank of America raised their price objective on Altria Group from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Needham & Company LLC upgraded Altria Group to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 price objective on Altria Group in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Altria Group in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $50.00 price objective for the company. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Altria Group from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $47.00 to $59.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $60.88.

Altria Group Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of Altria Group stock traded down $0.90 during trading on Monday, reaching $65.65. 3,529,637 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,958,725. Altria Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $48.86 and a twelve month high of $68.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $110.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.70, a P/E/G ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 0.59. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $62.56 and a 200-day moving average price of $59.78.

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, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $5.29 billion for 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%.The company's quarterly revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.31 earnings per share. Altria Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.350-5.450 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.06 per share. 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. This represents a $4.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.5%. Altria Group's payout ratio is presently 78.92%.

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.