Asset Management One Co. Ltd. Acquires 64,313 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 845,944 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 64,313 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $43,177,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 1.6% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,355,509 shares of the company’s stock worth $562,793,000 after acquiring an additional 191,236 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 25.0% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company’s stock worth $295,055,000 after acquiring an additional 1,299,703 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 5.0% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,060,589 shares of the company’s stock worth $230,510,000 after acquiring an additional 243,201 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management lifted its stake in Altria Group by 4.6% in the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 4,888,137 shares of the company’s stock valued at $222,655,000 after buying an additional 215,594 shares during the period. Finally, National Pension Service lifted its stake in Altria Group by 19.9% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,034,414 shares of the company’s stock valued at $205,916,000 after buying an additional 670,858 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on MO shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Bank of America decreased their target price on Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. UBS Group increased their price target on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.17.

Altria Group Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of MO opened at $53.88 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $91.93 billion, a PE ratio of 9.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.64. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $51.44 and a 200-day moving average price of $48.57. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.25 and a 12-month high of $54.95.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.33 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 233.80% and a net margin of 42.82%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.28 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.57%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.92%.

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.