Pacer Advisors Inc. Sells 912,520 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Pacer Advisors Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 8.4% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 9,995,206 shares of the company’s stock after selling 912,520 shares during the period. Altria Group accounts for about 1.1% of Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $510,155,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MO has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target 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 upped their target price on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price target on Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $51.33.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MO opened at $55.98 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $94.87 billion, a PE ratio of 9.46, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 $56.55. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $51.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $49.51.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.33 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.28 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current year.

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.