Securian Asset Management Inc. Decreases Stake in Altria Group, Inc. $MO

Securian Asset Management Inc. cut its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 1.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 88,068 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,651 shares during the quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $5,163,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MO. GQG Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 8,146.4% in the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 18,698,594 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,122,290,000 after buying an additional 18,471,846 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Altria Group during the first quarter worth $219,141,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position 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. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. boosted its position in Altria Group by 111.3% during the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 5,558,252 shares of the company’s stock worth $333,606,000 after purchasing an additional 2,928,006 shares in the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price 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. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Altria Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 target price on Altria Group in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Bank of America boosted their target price on Altria Group from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Altria Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.11.

Altria Group Stock Down 1.0%

NYSE MO opened at $64.40 on Tuesday. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $48.98 and a fifty-two week high of $68.60. The stock has a market cap of $108.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.55. The business has a fifty day moving average of $65.87 and a 200-day moving average of $61.52.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.07. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 295.26% and a net margin of 37.24%.The company had revenue of $5.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.21 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.31 earnings per share. The business’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. As a group, analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

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