Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co Raises Stock Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

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

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted 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 worth $382,201,000 after purchasing 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 4th quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 1,803,226 shares of the company’s stock valued at $72,742,000 after buying an additional 919,058 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 805,051 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake 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 buying an additional 793,327 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the first quarter worth $27,613,000. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Altria Group Price Performance

MO opened at $50.55 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $86.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.58, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.65. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $39.06 and a 1-year high of $54.95. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $51.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $46.67.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued 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). Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 232.55% and a net margin of 42.25%. The business had revenue of $6.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.31 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. 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 is Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 85.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com raised Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 28th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Argus upgraded shares of Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.