Balefire LLC Purchases Shares of 6,106 Altria Group, Inc. $MO

Key Points

• Balefire LLC has acquired a new stake in Altria Group, purchasing 6,106 shares valued at approximately $358,000 in the 2nd quarter.
• Altria Group recently increased its quarterly dividend from $1.02 to $1.06, reflecting a dividend yield of 6.6% and a payout ratio of 82.01%.
• The company reported earnings of $1.44 per share for the last quarter, surpassing analyst estimates and representing a year-over-year revenue increase of 0.2%.

Balefire LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 6,106 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $358,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Krilogy Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC now owns 57,163 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,351,000 after buying an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 91.1% during the 2nd quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 16,737 shares of the company's stock valued at $981,000 after buying an additional 7,978 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New Hampshire lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 8.0% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New Hampshire now owns 2,695 shares of the company's stock valued at $158,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 9.9% during the 2nd quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 4,765 shares of the company's stock valued at $279,000 after buying an additional 430 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lifestyle Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $255,000. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $50.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group upgraded shares of Altria Group from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $47.00 to $59.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Morgan Stanley increased 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. Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, Barclays increased 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Altria Group has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $60.88.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of MO stock traded down $1.14 on Monday, hitting $63.75. 1,675,760 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,010,762. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $48.86 and a one year high of $68.60. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $63.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $60.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $107.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.33, a P/E/G ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 0.59.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 37.24% and a negative return on equity of 295.26%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.31 EPS. Altria Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.350-5.450 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $1.06 per share. This represents a $4.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.7%. 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. Altria Group's dividend payout ratio is currently 82.01%.

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.