NorthRock Partners LLC Sells 14,509 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

NorthRock Partners LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) by 13.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 95,985 shares of the company's stock after selling 14,509 shares during the quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC's holdings in Altria Group were worth $4,899,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 3,786.6% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,743,443 shares of the company's stock valued at $88,985,000 after buying an additional 1,698,585 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Altria Group by 25.0% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company's stock valued at $295,055,000 after acquiring an additional 1,299,703 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in Altria Group by 415.4% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 984,285 shares of the company's stock valued at $42,935,000 after acquiring an additional 793,327 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service grew its position in Altria Group by 19.9% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,034,414 shares of the company's stock worth $205,916,000 after acquiring an additional 670,858 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group during the 1st quarter worth $27,613,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company's stock.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.6 %

Altria Group stock traded up $0.30 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $54.18. The company had a trading volume of 5,862,168 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,878,481. The firm has a market cap of $92.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.15, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a 50 day moving average of $51.47 and a 200-day moving average of $48.66. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.25 and a 52 week high of $54.95.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.33 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 233.80% and a net margin of 42.82%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.28 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.53%. This is an increase from Altria Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Altria Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.92%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. UBS Group upped their price target on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Barclays raised their price objective on Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. StockNews.com raised Altria Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday. Two investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $51.17.

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.