Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Decreases Stock Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lowered its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 14.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 123,022 shares of the company’s stock after selling 21,131 shares during the quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $6,279,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MO. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Altria Group in the second quarter worth $27,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group in the second quarter worth about $30,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. increased 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 buying an additional 260 shares during the period. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Altria Group during the 3rd quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, Fairman Group LLC boosted its position in Altria Group by 85.1% in the 3rd quarter. Fairman Group LLC now owns 892 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 410 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of MO stock opened at $56.75 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $51.97 and its 200 day moving average is $49.81. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $39.25 and a 1-year high of $57.20. The company has a market cap of $96.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.59, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.64.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.33 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.28 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Citigroup upped their target price on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $51.33.

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.