Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Purchases 1,323 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 1.5% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 87,228 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,323 shares during the quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $3,973,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in Altria Group by 120.6% during the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,762,047 shares of the company’s stock valued at $382,201,000 after purchasing an additional 4,789,788 shares during the last quarter. United Services Automobile Association raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 103.9% during the fourth quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 1,803,226 shares of the company’s stock valued at $72,742,000 after purchasing an additional 919,058 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its position in Altria Group by 131.3% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 1,418,284 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,211,000 after purchasing an additional 805,051 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 415.4% in the first 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. Finally, Assetmark Inc. grew its position in Altria Group by 56.4% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 2,059,111 shares of the company’s stock worth $83,065,000 after purchasing an additional 742,896 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Altria Group Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:MO opened at $52.64 on Friday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.06 and a 52 week high of $54.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $89.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.01, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.65. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $50.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $46.33.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.04). Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 232.55% and a net margin of 42.25%. The business had revenue of $6.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.31 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a $1.02 dividend. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.01%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Bank of America raised their price target on Altria Group from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Argus raised shares of Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $49.67.

Altria Group Company 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.