Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Shares Purchased by abrdn plc

abrdn plc grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 221,664 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,366 shares during the period. abrdn plc’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $11,279,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Altria Group by 3,786.6% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,743,443 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,985,000 after purchasing an additional 1,698,585 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 25.0% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company’s stock worth $295,055,000 after purchasing an additional 1,299,703 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 415.4% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 984,285 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,935,000 after purchasing an additional 793,327 shares during the last quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP purchased a new stake in Altria Group in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $27,613,000. Finally, Distillate Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Altria Group by 182,943.7% during the 2nd quarter. Distillate Capital Partners LLC now owns 569,266 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,930,000 after buying an additional 568,955 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MO. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.17.

Altria Group Trading Down 1.1 %

MO stock opened at $53.87 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $51.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $48.38. The company has a market cap of $91.91 billion, a PE ratio of 9.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.65. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.25 and a 12-month high of $54.95.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.33 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.25% and a negative return on equity of 232.55%. The company’s revenue was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.28 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $1.02 dividend. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.57%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 70.34%.

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.