Altria Group, Inc. $MO Shares Acquired by Ethos Financial Group LLC

Key Points

• Ethos Financial Group LLC significantly increased its investment in Altria Group by 684.5%, now holding 24,671 shares valued at approximately $1.46 million.
• Multiple institutional investors, including GQG Partners LLC and JPMorgan Chase & Co., have also raised their stakes in Altria Group, contributing to a total of 57.41% institutional ownership.
• Analyst ratings for Altria Group show a mix of upgrades and downgrades, with an average target price of $59.13 and a consensus rating of "Hold."

Ethos Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) by 684.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 24,671 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 21,526 shares during the period. Ethos Financial Group LLC's holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,460,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MO. GQG Partners LLC raised its position in 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. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Altria Group in the 1st quarter worth about $219,141,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in 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. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. raised its position in Altria Group by 111.3% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 5,558,252 shares of the company's stock worth $333,606,000 after purchasing an additional 2,928,006 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on MO shares. UBS Group raised shares of Altria Group from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $47.00 to $59.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised 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 report on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Altria Group from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Altria Group from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised shares of Altria Group to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $59.13.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.8%

MO stock traded up $0.5170 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $66.5070. 6,395,470 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,739,701. The firm has a market capitalization of $111.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.86, a PEG ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.59. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $48.86 and a 1 year high of $66.60. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $58.50.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $5.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.21 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 37.24% and a negative return on equity of 295.26%. Altria Group's revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.31 earnings per share. Altria Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.350-5.450 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.