Swiss National Bank Raises Stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Swiss National Bank raised its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) by 0.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,098,200 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 12,700 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned approximately 0.30% of Altria Group worth $260,212,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MO. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its stake 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. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Altria Group by 3,786.6% in the third 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 in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 1,299,703 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 415.4% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 984,285 shares of the company's stock worth $42,935,000 after acquiring an additional 793,327 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service grew its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 670,858 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. 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 research report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Altria Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $51.33.

Altria Group Price Performance

MO stock traded up $0.54 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $55.93. The stock had a trading volume of 8,201,730 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,890,591. The company's 50-day moving average price is $51.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $49.26. The firm has a market cap of $94.79 billion, a PE ratio of 9.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.64. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.25 and a 12-month high of $56.32.

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

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This is a boost from Altria Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.29%. Altria Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.92%.

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.