Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC Increases Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 607,914.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 85,122 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 85,108 shares during the quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $3,877,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MO. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 4,789,788 shares during the last quarter. United Services Automobile Association lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 103.9% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 131.3% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 1,418,284 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,211,000 after buying an additional 805,051 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 793,327 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP purchased a new position in Altria Group in the 1st quarter worth about $27,613,000. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Argus raised shares of Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. StockNews.com raised Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on 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 given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.67.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of Altria Group stock opened at $50.39 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $86.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.54, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.65. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $51.27 and its 200 day moving average is $46.81. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $39.06 and a one year high of $54.95.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.04). The company 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.31 EPS. Analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given 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 dividend yield of 8.10%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.