Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Shares Bought by EP Wealth Advisors LLC

EP Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) by 113.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 81,119 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 43,074 shares during the quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Altria Group were worth $4,140,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MO. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. True Wealth Design LLC raised its holdings in Altria Group by 420.0% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 572 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 462 shares during the period. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group in the second quarter valued at about $30,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 63.9% in the second quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 667 shares of the company's stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the period. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the third quarter worth about $41,000. 57.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America upgraded Altria Group from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Friday. StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Citigroup upped 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. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Altria Group presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $53.33.

Altria Group Stock Down 2.5 %

MO traded down $1.46 during trading on Monday, reaching $55.86. The company had a trading volume of 8,618,309 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,610,635. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $53.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $50.61. The stock has a market cap of $94.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.44, a PEG ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 0.63. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.25 and a 52 week high of $58.03.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.03. The firm 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 was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.28 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.12 EPS for the current fiscal 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.