Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Has $381,000 Stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. trimmed its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 94.5% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 7,473 shares of the company’s stock after selling 129,453 shares during the quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $381,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MO. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 729.8% during the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,969,262 shares of the company’s stock worth $100,511,000 after buying an additional 1,731,932 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 3,786.6% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,743,443 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,985,000 after acquiring an additional 1,698,585 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 25.0% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company’s stock valued at $295,055,000 after acquiring an additional 1,299,703 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service increased its position in Altria Group by 19.9% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,034,414 shares of the company’s stock valued at $205,916,000 after purchasing an additional 670,858 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Altria Group by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 57,508,314 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,935,224,000 after purchasing an additional 589,832 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Altria Group Stock Down 2.5 %

NYSE MO opened at $55.86 on Tuesday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.25 and a 52 week high of $58.03. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $53.23 and a 200-day moving average price of $50.61. The company has a market cap of $94.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.44, a P/E/G ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 0.63.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 EPS 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 business had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.33 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.28 EPS. Altria Group’s quarterly revenue was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays boosted their price objective on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group increased their price target on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.33.

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.