FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co Sells 1,544 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co lowered its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 0.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 611,586 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,544 shares during the quarter. Altria Group makes up approximately 2.2% of FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $31,215,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 729.8% during the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,969,262 shares of the company’s stock valued at $100,511,000 after purchasing an additional 1,731,932 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Altria Group by 3,786.6% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,743,443 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,985,000 after buying an additional 1,698,585 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 25.0% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company’s stock valued at $295,055,000 after buying an additional 1,299,703 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 415.4% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 984,285 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,935,000 after purchasing an additional 793,327 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service raised its holdings in Altria Group by 19.9% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,034,414 shares of the company’s stock worth $205,916,000 after acquiring an additional 670,858 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on MO shares. Bank of America dropped their price target on Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note 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. StockNews.com raised Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $51.33.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $55.40 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $93.89 billion, a PE ratio of 9.36, a P/E/G ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.64. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $39.25 and a one year high of $55.62. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $51.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $49.09.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.03. The firm 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.28 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.36%. This is a positive change from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.