Rakuten Securities Inc. Grows Stock Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 11.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,618 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 471 shares during the period. Rakuten Securities Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $236,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. CWM LLC increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 15.3% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 305,704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,603,000 after purchasing an additional 40,574 shares in the last quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 251,933 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,476,000 after purchasing an additional 10,079 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 1,456,308 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,330,000 after purchasing an additional 32,318 shares in the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 7.2% in the 1st quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,953 shares of the company’s stock valued at $260,000 after purchasing an additional 399 shares in the last quarter. Finally, White Lighthouse Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $483,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on MO shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Barclays lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. 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, Altria Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.33.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of Altria Group stock opened at $53.94 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $91.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.11, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.64. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $51.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $48.97. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $39.25 and a 1-year high of $55.05.

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

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s payout ratio is currently 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.