Thrive Wealth Management LLC Takes $222,000 Position in Altria Group, Inc. $MO

Thrive Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 3,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $222,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MO. GQG Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 8,146.4% during the first 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 acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the first quarter valued at about $219,141,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 5.8% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 63,288,773 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,798,592,000 after acquiring an additional 3,483,487 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 3,415,237 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 111.3% during the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 5,558,252 shares of the company’s stock valued at $333,606,000 after acquiring an additional 2,928,006 shares in the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on MO shares. Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 price target on Altria Group in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Bank of America lifted their price target on Altria Group from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Morgan Stanley lifted 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. Barclays lifted their price target on Altria Group from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Altria Group in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $50.00 price target for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $60.88.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $65.42 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $63.64 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $60.30. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $48.86 and a 52-week high of $68.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $109.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.65, a P/E/G ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 0.59.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its 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 net margin of 37.24% and a negative return on equity of 295.26%. The firm had revenue of $5.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.21 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.31 earnings per share. Altria Group’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, equities research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm 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. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is 82.01%.

Altria Group 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.