Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC Reduces Position in Altria Group, Inc. $MO

Key Points

• Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC reduced its position in Altria Group by 23.1%, owning 21,357 shares worth approximately $1.25 million after selling 6,415 shares in the second quarter.
• Several institutional investors, including Vanguard Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., have increased their holdings in Altria Group, indicating significant interest in the company.
• Altria Group announced a quarterly dividend increase to $1.06 per share, resulting in a 6.5% dividend yield, reflecting a positive shift from the previous quarterly payment of $1.02.

Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC cut its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) by 23.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 21,357 shares of the company's stock after selling 6,415 shares during the period. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC's holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,252,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Altria Group by 0.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 158,117,225 shares of the company's stock worth $9,490,196,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300,787 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 3,483,487 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC boosted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 18,471,846 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Altria Group by 3.7% in the first 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. boosted its position in Altria Group by 40.0% in the first 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 last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on MO. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective 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. Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 price objective on Altria Group in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. UBS Group raised Altria Group from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $47.00 to $59.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Altria Group from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $60.88.

Altria Group Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of Altria Group stock opened at $65.70 on Friday. The stock's fifty day moving average is $65.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $60.91. The company has a market capitalization of $110.38 billion, a PE ratio of 12.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 0.55. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $48.86 and a 52 week high of $68.60.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 the consensus estimate of $5.21 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 295.26% and a net margin of 37.24%.Altria Group's quarterly revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.31 EPS. Altria Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.350-5.450 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate 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 issued a $1.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $4.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.5%. This is a positive change from Altria Group's previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. Altria Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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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