Berkeley Capital Partners LLC Sells 7,128 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. $MO

Berkeley Capital Partners LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 20.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 27,310 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,128 shares during the period. Berkeley Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,601,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MO. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in Altria Group by 64.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 17,702 shares of the company’s stock valued at $926,000 after buying an additional 6,954 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Altria Group by 17.8% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 36,028 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,162,000 after buying an additional 5,440 shares during the period. Crews Bank & Trust boosted its stake in Altria Group by 16.9% during the first quarter. Crews Bank & Trust now owns 2,835 shares of the company’s stock valued at $170,000 after buying an additional 410 shares during the period. Ridgecrest Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Altria Group by 7.5% during the first quarter. Ridgecrest Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,751 shares of the company’s stock valued at $345,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Finally, Spinnaker Investment Group LLC bought a new stake in Altria Group during the first quarter valued at $264,000. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group raised Altria Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $47.00 to $59.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 price target on Altria Group in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Altria Group from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Altria Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.11.

Altria Group Trading Down 1.0%

MO opened at $64.40 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $108.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.46, a P/E/G ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.55. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $65.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $61.52. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $48.98 and a 12 month high of $68.60.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.07. The firm 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%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.31 earnings per share. Altria Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.350-5.450 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th were issued a $1.06 dividend. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 15th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.01%.

Altria Group Company 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.