Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Buys 2,688 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. $MO

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 3.4% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 81,991 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,688 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $4,807,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MO. GQG Partners LLC lifted its holdings 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 worth $1,122,290,000 after acquiring an additional 18,471,846 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the 1st quarter worth $219,141,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 3,483,487 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings 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 worth $717,913,000 after acquiring an additional 3,415,237 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 111.3% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 5,558,252 shares of the company’s stock worth $333,606,000 after acquiring an additional 2,928,006 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Altria Group Trading Up 0.5%

MO stock opened at $65.72 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $65.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $61.13. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $48.86 and a 12-month high of $68.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $110.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.71, a PEG ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.55.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 in the previous year, the company earned $1.31 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. Altria Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.350-5.450 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 is Monday, September 15th. This is a positive change from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.5%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 82.01%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MO has been the subject of several recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $50.00 price target for the company. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 price target on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. UBS Group raised shares of Altria Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $47.00 to $59.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Wednesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.11.

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.