Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC Boosts Stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 0.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 126,650 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 189 shares during the quarter. Altria Group makes up approximately 1.6% of Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $6,464,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MO. Hancock Whitney Corp raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 60,830 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,105,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the period. Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Altria Group in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $224,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 71.0% during the third quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 16,641 shares of the company’s stock valued at $849,000 after purchasing an additional 6,907 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd grew its position in Altria Group by 1,035.7% in the 3rd quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 2,578 shares of the company’s stock valued at $132,000 after buying an additional 2,351 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 24.9% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 62,355 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,183,000 after acquiring an additional 12,444 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on MO. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Barclays increased their price target on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Altria Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $51.33.

Altria Group Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $56.92 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $96.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.58, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.64. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $39.25 and a 12 month high of $56.92. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $51.87 and a 200-day moving average of $49.73.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.03. The business 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%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.28 EPS. Analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal 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.