ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Sells 2,239 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. $MO

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. lowered its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 38.4% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 3,597 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,239 shares during the period. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $211,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in MO. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 12.7% in the second quarter. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 30,748 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,803,000 after acquiring an additional 3,476 shares during the last quarter. Fairvoy Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 9.1% in the 2nd quarter. Fairvoy Private Wealth LLC now owns 7,949 shares of the company’s stock valued at $466,000 after purchasing an additional 660 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC now owns 19,579 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,148,000 after buying an additional 910 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 13.6% during the 2nd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 154,061 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,033,000 after buying an additional 18,405 shares during the period. Finally, Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 3.3% during the second quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 322,451 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,907,000 after buying an additional 10,181 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on MO shares. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Altria Group in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $50.00 price target for the company. Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 price target on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. UBS Group upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $47.00 to $59.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Altria Group from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.11.

Altria Group Stock Performance

NYSE MO opened at $65.70 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $65.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $60.93. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $48.86 and a 52-week high of $68.60. The stock has a market cap of $110.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.71, a PEG ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 0.55.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $5.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.21 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 37.24% and a negative return on equity of 295.26%. The business’s revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.31 earnings per share. Altria Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.350-5.450 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.06 per share. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $4.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.5%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 82.01%.

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.