Johnson Financial Group Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Altria Group, Inc. $MO

Johnson Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 174,456 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,288 shares during the quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $10,403,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Altria Group by 1.0% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 159,717,148 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,364,216,000 after acquiring an additional 1,599,923 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 5.8% during the 1st 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 during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 44,724,475 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,620,229,000 after purchasing an additional 764,221 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 8,146.4% during 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 3.7% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 12,243,041 shares of the company’s stock valued at $734,827,000 after purchasing an additional 441,083 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Altria Group from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on Altria Group from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.33.

Altria Group Trading Up 0.7%

NYSE:MO opened at $58.76 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $62.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $61.76. Altria Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $50.08 and a twelve month high of $68.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $98.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.36, a PEG ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.51.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $5.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.31 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 295.26% and a net margin of 37.24%.The firm’s revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.38 earnings per share. Altria Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.370-5.45 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, October 30th that authorizes the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

About Altria Group

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.