Johnson & White Wealth Management LLC Increases Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Johnson & White Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 10.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,438 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,001 shares during the quarter. Johnson & White Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $533,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MO. Farmers Trust Co. increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 3.5% during the third quarter. Farmers Trust Co. now owns 8,730 shares of the company’s stock worth $446,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 347,576 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,740,000 after buying an additional 20,265 shares during the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV increased its stake in Altria Group by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 88,817 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,533,000 after buying an additional 2,961 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 3.4% during the third quarter. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH now owns 17,515 shares of the company’s stock valued at $894,000 after acquiring an additional 576 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Abacus Planning Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $227,000. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of Altria Group stock opened at $49.98 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $85.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.65. The business has a 50-day moving average of $51.59 and a 200 day moving average of $47.29. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $39.06 and a 12 month high of $54.95.

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

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. 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 yield of 8.16%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 85.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on MO. Bank of America increased their price objective on Altria Group from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.