Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co Purchases 5,670 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co grew its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 39.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,099 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,670 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $916,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 120.6% in the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,762,047 shares of the company’s stock worth $382,201,000 after buying an additional 4,789,788 shares during the last quarter. United Services Automobile Association increased its position in 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 purchasing an additional 919,058 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its holdings in Altria Group by 131.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 1,418,284 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,211,000 after purchasing an additional 805,051 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 415.4% in 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, Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the 1st quarter valued at about $27,613,000. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Altria Group Trading Up 0.1 %

Altria Group stock opened at $50.55 on Thursday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $39.06 and a 12 month high of $54.95. The company has a market capitalization of $86.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.65. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.15 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $46.67.

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

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a $1.02 dividend. This is a positive change from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s payout ratio is presently 85.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MO. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. 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 research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Argus raised Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $49.67.

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.