Delta Lloyd NV lowered its stake in shares of Altria Group (NYSE:MO) by 8.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 164,057 shares of the company’s stock after selling 14,739 shares during the period. Delta Lloyd NV’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $11,776,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 9.8% in the first quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 248,849 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,894,000 after buying an additional 22,169 shares during the period. Signature Financial Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 4.5% in the first quarter. Signature Financial Management Inc. now owns 8,132 shares of the company’s stock worth $579,000 after buying an additional 352 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the first quarter worth $1,950,000. Windsor Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Altria Group during the first quarter worth $210,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. boosted its position in Altria Group by 14.4% in the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 96,192 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,870,000 after buying an additional 12,099 shares during the last quarter. 62.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
Altria Group (NYSE MO) opened at 64.30 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $123.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.48 and a beta of 0.61. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $70.07 and a 200-day moving average of $72.56. Altria Group has a 52 week low of $60.01 and a 52 week high of $77.79.
Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 27th. The company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $4.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.02 billion. Altria Group had a return on equity of 59.50% and a net margin of 56.98%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.81 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Altria Group will post $3.26 earnings per share for the current year.
Altria Group announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, July 27th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 0.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.
MO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. BidaskClub raised shares of Altria Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded shares of Altria Group from an “underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $62.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 31st. Vetr upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $79.51 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, July 31st. Zacks Investment Research cut shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 11th. Finally, Piper Jaffray Companies set a $76.00 target price on shares of Altria Group and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. The stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $72.66.
In other Altria Group news, Director George Munoz sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.35, for a total transaction of $361,750.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Martin J. Barrington sold 15,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.03, for a total transaction of $994,959.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 701,074 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,590,842.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.
Altria Group Company Profile
Altria Group, Inc is a holding company. The Company’s segments include smokeable products, smokeless products and wine. The Company’s subsidiaries include Philip Morris USA Inc (PM USA), which is engaged in the manufacture and sale of cigarettes in the United States; John Middleton Co (Middleton), which is engaged in the manufacture and sale of machine-made cigars and pipe tobacco, and UST LLC (UST), which, through its subsidiaries, including U.S.
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