Redwood Investment Management LLC Trims Stock Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Redwood Investment Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 17.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 38,796 shares of the company’s stock after selling 8,133 shares during the period. Redwood Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,980,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MO. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 1,731,932 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 1,698,585 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Altria Group by 25.0% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company’s stock valued at $295,055,000 after acquiring an additional 1,299,703 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service boosted its stake in Altria Group by 19.9% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,034,414 shares of the company’s stock valued at $205,916,000 after acquiring an additional 670,858 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Altria Group by 1.0% in the third 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 in the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of Altria Group stock opened at $56.95 on Friday. The firm 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 $96.52 billion, a PE ratio of 9.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.63.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.33 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.28 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on MO shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted 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. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 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 assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.33.

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.