Cornerstone Advisors LLC Buys 14,300 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Cornerstone Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) by 21.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 80,800 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 14,300 shares during the quarter. Cornerstone Advisors LLC's holdings in Altria Group were worth $4,124,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MO. CWM LLC boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 15.3% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 305,704 shares of the company's stock valued at $15,603,000 after purchasing an additional 40,574 shares in the last quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Altria Group by 4.2% during the 2nd 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 period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 32,318 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its stake 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 valued at $100,511,000 after purchasing an additional 1,731,932 shares in the last quarter. Finally, White Lighthouse Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $483,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company's stock.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MO opened at $55.98 on Thursday. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $51.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $49.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $94.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.46, a PEG ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.64. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $39.25 and a 52-week high of $56.55.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.33 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.28 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MO. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped 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. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com raised Altria Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Citigroup lifted their target price 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 lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Altria Group presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target 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.

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