Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC Purchases 2,208 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC boosted its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 2.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 86,248 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,208 shares during the quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $3,929,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MO. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 120.6% in the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,762,047 shares of the company’s stock worth $382,201,000 after purchasing an additional 4,789,788 shares in the last quarter. United Services Automobile Association boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 103.9% in the fourth quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 1,803,226 shares of the company’s stock worth $72,742,000 after acquiring an additional 919,058 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 24.4% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,674,441 shares of the company’s stock worth $188,567,000 after acquiring an additional 915,478 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 131.3% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 1,418,284 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,211,000 after acquiring an additional 805,051 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 415.4% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 984,285 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,935,000 after purchasing an additional 793,327 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on MO shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Barclays upped their price objective on Altria Group from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Argus raised Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. StockNews.com raised Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.08.

Altria Group Stock Up 1.2 %

NYSE:MO traded up $0.61 on Friday, hitting $52.44. The stock had a trading volume of 9,133,552 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,471,729. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $39.06 and a 52-week high of $52.46. The stock has a market cap of $90.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.66. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $48.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $44.97.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.04). Altria Group had a net margin of 42.25% and a negative return on equity of 232.55%. The business had revenue of $6.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.39 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.31 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS 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.