Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Stake Raised by National Bank of Canada FI

National Bank of Canada FI grew its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) by 59.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 936,863 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 349,165 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI owned about 0.06% of Altria Group worth $47,817,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MO. iA Global Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Altria Group by 1.3% during the third quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 92,761 shares of the company's stock worth $4,735,000 after purchasing an additional 1,148 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 113.2% in the 3rd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 81,119 shares of the company's stock worth $4,140,000 after purchasing an additional 43,074 shares during the period. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC grew its stake in Altria Group by 52.1% during the third quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 100,970 shares of the company's stock worth $5,154,000 after purchasing an additional 34,573 shares during the period. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $32,206,000. Finally, State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 73,481,686 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,821,831,000 after buying an additional 3,910,738 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MO has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Barclays upped their target price on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America upgraded Altria Group from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Friday. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $53.33.

Altria Group Stock Down 2.5 %

Shares of MO stock traded down $1.46 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $55.86. 8,618,309 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,610,635. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.25 and a fifty-two week high of $58.03. The firm has a market cap of $94.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.44, a P/E/G ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 0.63. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $53.23 and a two-hundred day moving average of $50.61.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share 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 analysts' expectations of $5.33 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.28 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.