Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. Sells 442 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 49,182 shares of the company’s stock after selling 442 shares during the quarter. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $2,510,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the 1st quarter worth about $932,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Altria Group by 3.3% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 566,676 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,718,000 after purchasing an additional 18,194 shares during the last quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 132.5% during the first quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC now owns 33,619 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,466,000 after buying an additional 19,158 shares during the period. Kinloch Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 26.5% during the first quarter. Kinloch Capital LLC now owns 50,244 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,192,000 after buying an additional 10,527 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Waverly Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 97.5% in the first quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 35,443 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,546,000 after buying an additional 17,499 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on MO shares. StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Two investment 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.com, Altria Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.33.

Altria Group Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of Altria Group stock opened at $56.73 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $96.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.58, a PEG ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.64. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.25 and a 52 week high of $56.84. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $51.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $49.69.

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. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.82% and a negative return on equity of 233.80%. The firm had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.33 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.28 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share 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.