Mizuho Securities USA LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Mizuho Securities USA LLC cut its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 16.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 110,640 shares of the company’s stock after selling 21,797 shares during the quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $5,647,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings 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 valued at $562,793,000 after acquiring an additional 191,236 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Altria Group by 25.0% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company’s stock valued at $295,055,000 after purchasing an additional 1,299,703 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,060,589 shares of the company’s stock valued at $230,510,000 after purchasing an additional 243,201 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 4,888,137 shares of the company’s stock worth $222,655,000 after buying an additional 215,594 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service grew its position in Altria Group by 19.9% during 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 owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on MO. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group lifted their price target 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. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup boosted their target price on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.33.

Altria Group Price Performance

NYSE:MO opened at $55.93 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $94.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.64. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $39.25 and a 1 year high of $56.32. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $51.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $49.26.

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

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.29%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This is a positive change from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is 68.92%.

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.