State Street Corp Buys 3,910,738 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 5.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 73,481,686 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,910,738 shares during the period. State Street Corp’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $3,821,831,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 1.0% in 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 acquiring an additional 589,832 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in Altria Group by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,355,509 shares of the company’s stock worth $562,793,000 after buying an additional 191,236 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Altria Group by 25.0% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company’s stock worth $295,055,000 after buying an additional 1,299,703 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Altria Group by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,060,589 shares of the company’s stock worth $230,510,000 after buying an additional 243,201 shares during the period. Finally, LSV Asset Management raised its holdings in Altria Group by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 4,888,137 shares of the company’s stock worth $222,655,000 after buying an additional 215,594 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on MO shares. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target 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 given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.33.

Altria Group Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE:MO opened at $56.95 on Friday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $39.25 and a 1-year high of $58.03. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $53.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $50.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $96.52 billion, a PE ratio of 9.62, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.63.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its 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. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.82% and a negative return on equity of 233.80%. The business had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.33 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.28 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share 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.