Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. $MO

Key Points

• Janney Montgomery Scott LLC reduced its stake in Altria Group by 1.7% in Q2, owning approximately 914,696 shares worth $53.6 million at the end of the quarter.
• Altria Group reported better-than-expected Q2 earnings of $1.44 EPS, surpassing the consensus estimate of $1.37 and showing a year-over-year revenue growth of 0.2% to $5.29 billion.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.06 per share, representing a 6.4% yield, up from its previous dividend of $1.02.

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lessened its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 914,696 shares of the company's stock after selling 16,157 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC owned about 0.05% of Altria Group worth $53,629,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. GQG Partners LLC boosted its position 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 acquiring an additional 18,471,846 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group in the 1st quarter worth $219,141,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake 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 worth $3,798,592,000 after purchasing an additional 3,483,487 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Altria Group by 40.0% during the first 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. grew its stake in 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 last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Altria Group Trading Up 0.7%

NYSE MO opened at $66.10 on Wednesday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $48.86 and a 12-month high of $68.60. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $64.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $60.77. The stock has a market cap of $111.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.79, a P/E/G ratio of 3.53 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $5.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.21 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.31 EPS. The firm's revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. Altria Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.350-5.450 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $4.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.4%. This is a boost from Altria Group's previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. Altria Group's payout ratio is 82.01%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on MO shares. Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 price target on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. UBS Group upgraded shares of Altria Group from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their target price for the company from $47.00 to $59.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. 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 research report on Friday, August 22nd. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Altria Group from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Two 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, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price 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.

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