Raymond James Trust N.A. Sells 738 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Raymond James Trust N.A. decreased its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 0.9% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 76,951 shares of the company’s stock after selling 738 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $3,928,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MO. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 729.8% in the 3rd 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 shares of Altria Group by 3,786.6% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,743,443 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,985,000 after purchasing an additional 1,698,585 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 25.0% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company’s stock valued at $295,055,000 after purchasing an additional 1,299,703 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake 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 valued at $42,935,000 after purchasing an additional 793,327 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 19.9% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,034,414 shares of the company’s stock valued at $205,916,000 after purchasing an additional 670,858 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MO has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays raised their price target 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. StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report 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 report on Friday, November 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.33.

Altria Group Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of MO opened at $56.74 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $51.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $49.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $96.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.58, a PEG ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.64. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $39.25 and a 1-year high of $56.84.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.33 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.82% and a negative return on equity of 233.80%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.28 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast 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.