Bridgewater Associates LP Raises Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Bridgewater Associates LP lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 29.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,438,565 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 330,105 shares during the period. Bridgewater Associates LP owned about 0.08% of Altria Group worth $73,424,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MO. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Altria Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. grew its stake in Altria Group by 63.9% in the 2nd quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 667 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the period. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Altria Group in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $41,000. Finally, Lynx Investment Advisory acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $44,000. 57.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on MO shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.33.

Altria Group Trading Up 1.5 %

NYSE:MO opened at $57.58 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $97.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.73, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.64. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $52.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $49.90. Altria Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $39.25 and a twelve month high of $57.60.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.33 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.28 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share 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.