Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Grows Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 71.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,641 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,907 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $849,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MO. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position 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 buying an additional 589,832 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,355,509 shares of the company’s stock valued at $562,793,000 after buying an additional 191,236 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 25.0% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company’s stock valued at $295,055,000 after buying an additional 1,299,703 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,060,589 shares of the company’s stock valued at $230,510,000 after buying an additional 243,201 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management raised its stake in Altria Group by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 4,888,137 shares of the company’s stock valued at $222,655,000 after purchasing an additional 215,594 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of MO opened at $57.65 on Thursday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $39.25 and a 52-week high of $58.03. The company has a market capitalization of $97.71 billion, a PE ratio of 9.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.64. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $52.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $49.96.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.33 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 233.80% and a net margin of 42.82%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.28 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on MO. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Barclays increased their price objective on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $51.33.

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.