United Services Automobile Association Cuts Stock Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

United Services Automobile Association lowered its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) by 25.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,318,459 shares of the company's stock after selling 456,209 shares during the quarter. Altria Group comprises approximately 1.7% of United Services Automobile Association's portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. United Services Automobile Association owned approximately 0.08% of Altria Group worth $67,294,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Altria Group in the second quarter worth $2,733,000. Cypress Wealth Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 6.6% during the 2nd quarter. Cypress Wealth Services LLC now owns 7,567 shares of the company's stock valued at $345,000 after buying an additional 470 shares in the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its position in Altria Group by 29.1% in the 2nd quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 4,340 shares of the company's stock worth $198,000 after buying an additional 978 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Planning Group LLC purchased a new stake in Altria Group in the second quarter worth approximately $725,000. Finally, Czech National Bank boosted its stake in Altria Group by 5.5% in the second quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 327,311 shares of the company's stock worth $14,909,000 after buying an additional 16,993 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on MO shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays increased their target price on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Bank of America raised 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 note on Friday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $53.33.

Altria Group Price Performance

MO stock traded up $0.41 during trading on Friday, reaching $57.32. The company had a trading volume of 5,732,967 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,749,983. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.25 and a 52 week high of $58.03. The business has a 50 day moving average of $53.14 and a 200 day moving average of $50.51. The company has a market cap of $97.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.68, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.63.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.33 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 233.80% and a net margin of 42.82%. The firm's revenue was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.28 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current year.

About Altria Group

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.