National Pension Service Grows Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. $MO

National Pension Service grew its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,998,800 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 134,828 shares during the period. National Pension Service’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $359,664,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in Altria Group by 1.1% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 126,073,166 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,070,964,000 after acquiring an additional 1,325,175 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Altria Group by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 72,830,531 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,275,886,000 after purchasing an additional 1,147,141 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Altria Group by 10.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 65,516,916 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,777,931,000 after purchasing an additional 6,265,780 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Altria Group by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 45,984,718 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,651,383,000 after purchasing an additional 729,999 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GQG Partners LLC bought a new stake in Altria Group during the second quarter worth about $1,806,782,000. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of MO stock opened at $67.88 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $113.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.45. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $54.70 and a fifty-two week high of $77.06. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $69.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $69.10.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported $1.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.50 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $5.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.35 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 33.99% and a negative return on equity of 315.29%. Altria Group’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.44 earnings per share. Altria Group has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.610-5.720 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.67 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $1.11 per share. This represents a $4.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 15th. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.06. Altria Group’s payout ratio is presently 89.45%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on MO. BTIG Research assumed coverage on Altria Group in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. They set a “neutral” rating on the stock. UBS Group boosted their target price on Altria Group from $76.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Altria Group from $50.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, June 21st. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Altria Group from $64.00 to $58.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $70.11.

About Altria Group

Altria Group, Inc (NYSE: MO) is a tobacco and nicotine company headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. Through its operating companies, Altria develops, manufactures and markets cigarettes, cigars, oral tobacco products, nicotine pouches and electronic vaping products, with its business focused primarily on the United States.

Altria’s smokeable products portfolio includes Marlboro cigarettes, which are manufactured and marketed in the U.S. by Philip Morris USA, as well as Black & Mild cigars through John Middleton.