Capital Square LLC Reduces Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Capital Square LLC lowered its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 5.5% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 59,046 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,439 shares during the quarter. Altria Group comprises 1.8% of Capital Square LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Capital Square LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $3,014,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Altria Group Price Performance

NYSE MO traded up $0.35 on Monday, hitting $57.08. 733,704 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,671,187. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $51.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $49.73. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $39.25 and a 52-week high of $57.20. The company has a market capitalization of $96.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.58, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.64.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on MO. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price 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. Citigroup increased their price objective on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group increased their price target on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Two 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.33.

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.