Natixis Advisors LLC Sells 29,369 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Natixis Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) by 3.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 794,176 shares of the company's stock after selling 29,369 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC's holdings in Altria Group were worth $40,534,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MO. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in Altria Group by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,355,509 shares of the company's stock worth $562,793,000 after purchasing an additional 191,236 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 25.0% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company's stock valued at $295,055,000 after buying an additional 1,299,703 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,060,589 shares of the company's stock valued at $230,510,000 after buying an additional 243,201 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 4,888,137 shares of the company's stock worth $222,655,000 after purchasing an additional 215,594 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 19.9% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,034,414 shares of the company's stock worth $205,916,000 after purchasing an additional 670,858 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on MO shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report 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 on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. UBS Group upped their price target 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, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $51.33.

Altria Group Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of MO traded up $0.41 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $56.34. 8,716,668 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,774,494. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $39.25 and a 1-year high of $56.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $95.49 billion, a PE ratio of 9.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.64. The business has a fifty day moving average of $51.59 and a 200-day moving average of $49.29.

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

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders 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 7.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Altria Group's dividend payout ratio is 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.