Mizuho Securities USA LLC Sells 21,797 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Mizuho Securities USA LLC cut its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 16.5% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 110,640 shares of the company’s stock after selling 21,797 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $5,647,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MO. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 729.8% in the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,969,262 shares of the company’s stock valued at $100,511,000 after purchasing an additional 1,731,932 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 3,786.6% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,743,443 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,985,000 after buying an additional 1,698,585 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 25.0% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company’s stock valued at $295,055,000 after buying an additional 1,299,703 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 415.4% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 984,285 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,935,000 after acquiring an additional 793,327 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service grew its holdings in Altria Group by 19.9% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,034,414 shares of the company’s stock worth $205,916,000 after acquiring an additional 670,858 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.1 %

MO stock opened at $56.06 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.00 billion, a PE ratio of 9.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.64. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.25 and a 52 week high of $56.55. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $51.79 and a 200 day moving average of $49.56.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.33 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.82% and a negative return on equity of 233.80%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.28 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on MO shares. UBS Group lifted their price objective 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. Bank of America reduced their price target on Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research 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, Barclays raised 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $51.33.

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.