Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Stock Holdings Raised by Bridgewater Associates LP

Bridgewater Associates LP raised its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 29.8% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,438,565 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 330,105 shares during the period. Bridgewater Associates LP’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $73,424,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Townsquare Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 20.6% in the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 74,589 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,807,000 after purchasing an additional 12,727 shares during the last quarter. Shum Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the 3rd quarter worth about $340,000. Avestar Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 9,623 shares of the company’s stock valued at $491,000 after buying an additional 698 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the 3rd quarter valued at about $250,000. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 3,051,644 shares of the company’s stock valued at $155,786,000 after buying an additional 35,953 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MO. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of 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 raised shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.33.

Altria Group Stock Up 1.5 %

Altria Group stock opened at $57.58 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $52.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $49.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $97.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.73, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.64. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $39.25 and a 52-week high of $57.60.

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

Altria Group Company 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.