Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Sells 97,362 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd decreased its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 58.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 68,644 shares of the company’s stock after selling 97,362 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $3,504,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MO. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 73,481,686 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,821,831,000 after purchasing an additional 3,910,738 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Altria Group by 1.0% during 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 in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in Altria Group by 1.6% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,355,509 shares of the company’s stock valued at $562,793,000 after buying an additional 191,236 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 25.0% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company’s stock worth $295,055,000 after acquiring an additional 1,299,703 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 243,201 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on MO. Citigroup increased their price objective 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. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.33.

Altria Group Price Performance

NYSE MO opened at $57.32 on Monday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $39.25 and a 1 year high of $58.03. The company has a market capitalization of $97.15 billion, a PE ratio of 9.68, a P/E/G ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a fifty day moving average of $53.14 and a 200 day moving average of $50.54.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.33 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 233.80% and a net margin of 42.82%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.28 EPS. Research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.12 earnings per share for the current 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.