Altria Group, Inc. $MO Shares Sold by GW Henssler & Associates Ltd.

GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. trimmed its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 2.2% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 338,043 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,744 shares during the quarter. GW Henssler & Associates Ltd.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $19,819,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted 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 purchasing an additional 1,300,787 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in 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 worth $3,798,592,000 after purchasing an additional 3,483,487 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC lifted its stake in Altria Group by 8,146.4% during 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 in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Altria Group by 3.7% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Altria Group by 40.0% during 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 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 analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 price objective on Altria Group in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Altria Group from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Bank of America upped their price objective on Altria Group from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Altria Group in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $50.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Altria Group from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Four research 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.11.

Altria Group Price Performance

NYSE:MO opened at $66.54 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $111.78 billion, a PE ratio of 12.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.70 and a beta of 0.55. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $65.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $61.22. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $48.86 and a 12 month high of $68.60.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $5.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 revenue for the quarter was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.31 earnings per share. Altria Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.350-5.450 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th were issued a $1.06 dividend. This represents a $4.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.4%. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio 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.