Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Shares Sold by Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd trimmed its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) by 58.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 68,644 shares of the company's stock after selling 97,362 shares during the quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd's holdings in Altria Group were worth $3,504,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 3,910,738 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its stake in 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 worth $100,511,000 after acquiring an additional 1,731,932 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position 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 purchasing an additional 1,698,585 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 25.0% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company's stock valued at $295,055,000 after purchasing an additional 1,299,703 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 19.9% during 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 period. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Altria Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup increased their price objective 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 boosted their target price on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $53.33.

Altria Group Stock Down 2.5 %

MO stock traded down $1.46 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $55.86. The company's stock had a trading volume of 8,618,309 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,610,635. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $39.25 and a 52-week high of $58.03. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $53.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $50.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $94.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.44, a PEG ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 0.63.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. Altria Group's revenue for the quarter was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.28 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.