Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Lowers Stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. reduced its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) by 14.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 123,022 shares of the company's stock after selling 21,131 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.'s holdings in Altria Group were worth $6,279,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MO. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 40,574 shares during the last quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 4.2% during the second quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 251,933 shares of the company's stock valued at $11,476,000 after acquiring an additional 10,079 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 1,456,308 shares of the company's stock valued at $74,330,000 after acquiring an additional 32,318 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 57,508,314 shares of the company's stock worth $2,935,224,000 after acquiring an additional 589,832 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 1,731,932 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company's stock.

Altria Group Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of MO traded up $0.83 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $57.58. The company's stock had a trading volume of 7,780,214 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,718,956. The firm has a market capitalization of $97.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.73, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.64. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $39.25 and a 1-year high of $57.60. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $52.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $49.90.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.33 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.28 EPS. The company's revenue was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group raised their price target on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. StockNews.com raised Altria Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of 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 given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $51.33.

Altria Group Company 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.