Pure Portfolios Holdings LLC Buys 307 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. $MO

Pure Portfolios Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 4.3% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 7,377 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 307 shares during the quarter. Pure Portfolios Holdings LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $433,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 158,117,225 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,490,196,000 after acquiring an additional 1,300,787 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Altria Group by 5.8% in 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 increased its holdings in Altria Group by 8,146.4% in 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. increased its holdings in Altria Group by 3.7% in 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. increased its holdings in Altria Group by 40.0% in 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. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $50.00 price target for the company. Barclays boosted their target price on Altria Group from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Altria Group from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 price objective on Altria Group in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.11.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of MO opened at $66.64 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $65.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $61.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $111.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.89, a P/E/G ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.55. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $48.86 and a 52 week high of $68.60.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $5.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.21 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.31 earnings per share. Altria Group’s 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. On average, equities analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be given a $1.06 dividend. This represents a $4.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.4%. 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 currently 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.