Tidal Investments LLC Grows Stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Tidal Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) by 10.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 218,803 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 21,128 shares during the quarter. Tidal Investments LLC's holdings in Altria Group were worth $11,168,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MO. State Street Corp raised its stake in Altria Group by 5.6% in the third 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 last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 1,731,932 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 3,786.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 1,698,585 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Altria Group by 25.0% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company's stock worth $295,055,000 after purchasing an additional 1,299,703 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Altria Group by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,803,759 shares of the company's stock worth $2,079,919,000 after purchasing an additional 1,003,605 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Altria Group Trading Down 0.2 %

Altria Group stock traded down $0.12 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $54.87. The company had a trading volume of 2,622,831 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,561,040. The company has a market capitalization of $92.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.29, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.63. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.25 and a 12-month high of $58.03. The company's fifty day moving average is $53.51 and its 200-day moving average is $50.74.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last released 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 company 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 company earned $1.28 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 26th will be issued a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 26th. Altria Group's payout ratio is currently 68.92%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MO has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America raised Altria Group from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, UBS Group lifted 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Altria Group has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $53.33.

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.