Quest Partners LLC Has $2.48 Million Stock Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Quest Partners LLC trimmed its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) by 18.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 48,541 shares of the company's stock after selling 10,950 shares during the quarter. Quest Partners LLC's holdings in Altria Group were worth $2,478,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in MO. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 15.3% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 305,704 shares of the company's stock valued at $15,603,000 after buying an additional 40,574 shares during the last quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 4.2% during the second quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 251,933 shares of the company's stock worth $11,476,000 after buying an additional 10,079 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its position in Altria Group by 2.3% in the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 1,456,308 shares of the company's stock worth $74,330,000 after buying an additional 32,318 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $100,511,000 after buying an additional 1,731,932 shares in the last quarter. Finally, White Lighthouse Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $483,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on MO shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on 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 decreased their price target on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $51.33.

Altria Group Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE:MO traded up $0.15 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $56.08. 3,281,173 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,750,114. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $39.25 and a 12 month high of $56.55. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $51.59 and a two-hundred day moving average of $49.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $95.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.64.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.33 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.28 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $1.02 dividend. This is an increase from Altria Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Altria Group's payout ratio is presently 68.92%.

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.