Ethic Inc. Increases Stock Position in Altria Group, Inc. $MO

Key Points

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Ethic Inc. lifted its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) by 19.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 36,520 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 5,888 shares during the period. Ethic Inc.'s holdings in Altria Group were worth $2,147,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MO. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC lifted its position in Altria Group by 88.5% during the first quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 8,536 shares of the company's stock valued at $512,000 after acquiring an additional 4,007 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in Altria Group by 64.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 17,702 shares of the company's stock valued at $926,000 after acquiring an additional 6,954 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Altria Group by 17.8% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 36,028 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,162,000 after acquiring an additional 5,440 shares during the last quarter. Patron Partners LLC lifted its position in Altria Group by 12.2% during the first quarter. Patron Partners LLC now owns 12,217 shares of the company's stock valued at $733,000 after acquiring an additional 1,325 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Simplicity Wealth LLC lifted its position in Altria Group by 152.2% during the first quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 58,268 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,497,000 after acquiring an additional 35,168 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on MO shares. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $50.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Altria Group from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Altria Group from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Altria Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upgraded shares of Altria Group to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $59.13.

Altria Group Price Performance

NYSE:MO opened at $65.82 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $110.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.73, a PEG ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 0.59. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $48.86 and a 1-year high of $66.29. The company's fifty day moving average price is $60.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $58.34.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $5.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.21 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 37.24% and a negative return on equity of 295.26%. The business's quarterly revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.31 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 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.

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