Zacks Investment Management Increases Stock Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Zacks Investment Management boosted its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) by 2.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 900,261 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 17,954 shares during the period. Zacks Investment Management owned about 0.05% of Altria Group worth $45,949,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. CWM LLC raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 15.3% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 305,704 shares of the company's stock valued at $15,603,000 after acquiring an additional 40,574 shares in the last quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Altria Group by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 251,933 shares of the company's stock worth $11,476,000 after purchasing an additional 10,079 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 1,456,308 shares of the company's stock worth $74,330,000 after purchasing an additional 32,318 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 57,508,314 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,935,224,000 after purchasing an additional 589,832 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its position 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 buying an additional 1,731,932 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Altria Group from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $53.33.

Altria Group Price Performance

NYSE MO traded up $0.41 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $57.32. The stock had a trading volume of 5,732,967 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,749,983. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $53.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $50.41. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $39.25 and a 1 year high of $58.03. The stock has a market cap of $97.15 billion, a PE ratio of 9.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.63.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.33 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.28 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities 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.