Owen LaRue LLC Takes $690,000 Position in Altria Group, Inc. $MO

Owen LaRue LLC purchased a new position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 11,770 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $690,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Altria Group by 0.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 158,117,225 shares of the company's stock worth $9,490,196,000 after acquiring an additional 1,300,787 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 5.8% in 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 acquiring an additional 3,483,487 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 8,146.4% in the first 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 during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 12,243,041 shares of the company's stock worth $734,827,000 after purchasing an additional 441,083 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MO has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group upgraded 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. Barclays upped their price objective on Altria Group from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 target price on Altria Group in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Altria Group from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on Altria Group from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $60.88.

Altria Group Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE:MO opened at $65.20 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $109.53 billion, a PE ratio of 12.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $64.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $60.60. 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 released 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 firm had revenue of $5.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.21 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.31 EPS. The company'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. Research analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be given a $1.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. This is a positive change from Altria Group's previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.5%. Altria Group's payout ratio is 82.01%.

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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