Nwam LLC Raises Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Nwam LLC boosted its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 16.8% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 13,355 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,925 shares during the period. Nwam LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $682,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 1,731,932 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 3,786.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 1,698,585 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 25.0% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company’s stock worth $295,055,000 after purchasing an additional 1,299,703 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew 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 worth $42,935,000 after buying an additional 793,327 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 19.9% in 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 last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on MO shares. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Barclays raised their price target on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $51.33.

Altria Group Price Performance

Altria Group stock opened at $56.73 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $96.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.64. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $39.25 and a 12 month high of $56.84. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $51.87 and its 200-day moving average is $49.69.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.03. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.82% and a negative return on equity of 233.80%. The firm had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.33 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.28 earnings per share. Altria Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current year.

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.