Natixis Advisors LLC Sells 29,369 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Natixis Advisors LLC trimmed its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 3.6% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 794,176 shares of the company’s stock after selling 29,369 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $40,534,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. CWM LLC lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 15.3% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 305,704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,603,000 after purchasing an additional 40,574 shares during the period. Regal Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 251,933 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,476,000 after purchasing an additional 10,079 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 1,456,308 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,330,000 after purchasing an additional 32,318 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 729.8% in the 3rd 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. Finally, White Lighthouse Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $483,000. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com raised Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Barclays raised their price objective on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.33.

Altria Group Trading Up 1.0 %

MO stock opened at $55.93 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $51.59 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $49.29. The stock has a market cap of $94.79 billion, a PE ratio of 9.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.64. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $39.25 and a 1 year high of $56.32.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.03. The firm 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 was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.28 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $1.02 dividend. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.29%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.92%.

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.