LRI Investments LLC Boosts Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. $MO

LRI Investments LLC increased its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 17.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,226 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,403 shares during the period. LRI Investments LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $541,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 0.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 158,117,225 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,490,196,000 after buying an additional 1,300,787 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in 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. GQG Partners LLC increased its stake in Altria Group by 8,146.4% in the 1st 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 during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Altria Group by 3.7% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 12,243,041 shares of the company’s stock valued at $734,827,000 after purchasing an additional 441,083 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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 purchasing an additional 3,415,237 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on MO shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group raised shares of Altria Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped 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 target price on Altria Group in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Altria Group from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.11.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Altria Group stock opened at $66.54 on Friday. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $48.86 and a fifty-two week high of $68.60. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $65.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $61.22. The stock has a market cap of $111.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.87, a PEG ratio of 3.70 and a beta of 0.55.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 quarter last year, the business posted $1.31 EPS. The firm’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. On average, analysts predict 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 was paid on Friday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th were issued a dividend of $1.06 per share. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 15th. This represents a $4.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.4%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.