First Manhattan CO. LLC. Decreases Stock Position in Altria Group, Inc. $MO

Key Points

• First Manhattan CO. LLC has reduced its holdings in Altria Group by 19.8%, selling 23,735 shares in the first quarter, leaving them with 96,004 shares valued at approximately $5.85 million.
• Altria Group's quarterly earnings exceeded expectations with an EPS of $1.44, beating the consensus estimate by $0.07, and revenues increased by 0.2% year-over-year.
• The company has announced a dividend increase, raising its quarterly payout from $1.02 to $1.06, resulting in an annualized yield of 6.3%.

First Manhattan CO. LLC. decreased its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) by 19.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 96,004 shares of the company's stock after selling 23,735 shares during the quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC.'s holdings in Altria Group were worth $5,850,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 158,117,225 shares of the company's stock valued at $9,490,196,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300,787 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of 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 last quarter. GQG Partners LLC increased its position in shares of 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 last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 12,243,041 shares of the company's stock valued at $734,827,000 after purchasing an additional 441,083 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of 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 last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company's stock.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of MO stock traded down $0.07 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $66.52. The stock had a trading volume of 5,935,439 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,133,504. The firm has a market capitalization 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, Inc. has a 12-month low of $48.86 and a 12-month high of $68.60. The firm's 50-day moving average is $62.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $59.70.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $5.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.21 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 295.26% and a net margin of 37.24%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.31 EPS. Altria Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.350-5.450 EPS. Analysts expect 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. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.06 per share. This is an increase from Altria Group's previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $4.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.4%. Altria Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 78.92%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MO. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Altria Group in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $50.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group raised Altria Group from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $47.00 to $59.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Altria Group from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the company 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 report on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Altria Group from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $60.88.

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.