Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Acquires 45,407 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 7.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 635,775 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 45,407 shares during the quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $32,450,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 1.0% in 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 during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,355,509 shares of the company’s stock valued at $562,793,000 after purchasing an additional 191,236 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 25.0% in the second 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. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 5.0% during the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,060,589 shares of the company’s stock worth $230,510,000 after buying an additional 243,201 shares during the period. Finally, LSV Asset Management grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 4.6% during the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 4,888,137 shares of the company’s stock worth $222,655,000 after buying an additional 215,594 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. 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 research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group raised their price target on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.33.

Altria Group Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $57.65 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $97.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.74, a P/E/G ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.64. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $39.25 and a 12 month high of $58.03. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $52.40 and a 200-day moving average of $50.01.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 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 analysts’ expectations 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 period in the previous year, the business posted $1.28 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.