Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC Buys 6,219 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 79.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 14,004 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,219 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $715,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MO. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its position in Altria Group by 729.8% in the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,969,262 shares of the company’s stock worth $100,511,000 after purchasing an additional 1,731,932 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of 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 during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position 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 buying an additional 1,299,703 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake 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 during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service raised 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. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of MO stock opened at $55.98 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $94.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.46, a P/E/G ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.64. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.25 and a 12-month high of $56.55. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $51.72 and a 200-day moving average of $49.51.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released 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. The firm had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 revenue for the quarter was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.28 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MO. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com raised Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.33.

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.