Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Shares Purchased by Savant Capital LLC

Savant Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 97,678 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,273 shares during the quarter. Savant Capital LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $4,449,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MO. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in Altria Group by 120.6% in the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,762,047 shares of the company’s stock valued at $382,201,000 after buying an additional 4,789,788 shares during the period. United Services Automobile Association lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 103.9% during the 4th quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 1,803,226 shares of the company’s stock valued at $72,742,000 after acquiring an additional 919,058 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 131.3% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 1,418,284 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,211,000 after acquiring an additional 805,051 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in 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 period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Altria Group by 1,712.8% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 820,969 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,811,000 after purchasing an additional 775,681 shares in the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Argus upgraded Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Bank of America upped their price target on Altria Group from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $48.58.

Altria Group Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:MO opened at $53.69 on Friday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.06 and a 12-month high of $54.95. The firm has a market cap of $92.22 billion, a PE ratio of 11.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $50.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.02.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released 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). Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 232.55% and a net margin of 42.25%. The company had revenue of $6.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.31 EPS. Altria Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.60%. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 85.36%.

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.