Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Raises Stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 6.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 159,992 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,862 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $6,454,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the first quarter worth $25,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC grew its stake in Altria Group by 103.2% in the 3rd quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 636 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 323 shares in the last quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 67.6% in the 4th quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC now owns 677 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 273 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $41.26 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $41.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.87 billion, a PE ratio of 9.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.65. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $39.06 and a 12 month high of $48.04.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $5.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.06 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 244.55% and a net margin of 33.21%. The firm’s revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.18 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, February 1st that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 25th will be issued a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.50%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 85.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group boosted their target price on Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. StockNews.com lowered Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Monday, March 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.90.

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.