Patton Fund Management Inc. Acquires New Stake in Altria Group, Inc. $MO

Patton Fund Management Inc. bought a new position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 50,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,976,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Altria Group by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 158,117,225 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,490,196,000 after buying an additional 1,300,787 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased 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 valued at $3,798,592,000 after buying an additional 3,483,487 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC increased its position in Altria Group by 8,146.4% during the 1st 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. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Altria Group by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 12,243,041 shares of the company’s stock valued at $734,827,000 after buying an additional 441,083 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Altria Group by 40.0% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 11,961,220 shares of the company’s stock valued at $717,913,000 after buying an additional 3,415,237 shares in the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group raised Altria Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $47.00 to $59.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Barclays increased their price target on Altria Group from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 target price on Altria Group in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Altria Group in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $50.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price 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. Two 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Altria Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $60.88.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.7%

MO stock opened at $65.67 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $64.55 and a two-hundred day moving average of $60.65. The stock has a market cap of $110.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.51 and a beta of 0.59. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $48.86 and a 52-week high of $68.60.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 firm earned $1.31 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue 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, sell-side analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.06 per share. This represents a $4.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. This is a positive change from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. Altria Group’s payout ratio is presently 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.