Altria Group, Inc. $MO Shares Sold by Truist Financial Corp

Key Points

• Truist Financial Corp has reduced its stake in Altria Group by 15.5%, selling 437,754 shares and now owns approximately 0.14% of the company valued at $139.87 million.
• Altria Group increased its quarterly dividend to $1.06 per share, up from $1.02, resulting in an annualized yield of 6.4%.
• Altria Group's latest quarterly earnings surpassed expectations, reporting $1.44 EPS against a consensus estimate of $1.37, alongside a net margin of 37.24%.

Truist Financial Corp trimmed its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) by 15.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,385,555 shares of the company's stock after selling 437,754 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp owned approximately 0.14% of Altria Group worth $139,865,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. GQG Partners LLC lifted 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 worth $1,122,290,000 after acquiring an additional 18,471,846 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Altria Group in the 1st quarter valued at about $219,141,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Altria Group by 5.8% during the first 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 40.0% during the first 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 111.3% in the first 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. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Altria Group Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of MO stock opened at $66.10 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $111.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.79, a PEG ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 0.59. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $64.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $60.77. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $48.86 and a 12 month high of $68.60.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last announced 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. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 295.26% and a net margin of 37.24%.The company had revenue of $5.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.21 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.31 EPS. Altria Group's revenue for the quarter was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. Altria Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.350-5.450 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast 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 will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.06 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is 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 6.4%. Altria Group's dividend payout ratio is 82.01%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on MO shares. 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. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Altria Group from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 price objective on Altria Group in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Altria Group in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $50.00 target price for the company. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on Altria Group from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $60.88.

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.

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