B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG Invests $1.39 Million in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 27,317 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,394,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC bought a new position in Altria Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. boosted its stake in Altria Group by 63.9% in the second quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 667 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the third quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Lynx Investment Advisory acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the second quarter valued at $44,000. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of Altria Group stock opened at $56.74 on Friday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.25 and a 52 week high of $56.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $96.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.58, a PEG ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.64. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $51.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $49.65.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 negative return on equity of 233.80% and a net margin of 42.82%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.28 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price 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. UBS Group raised their price target 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. Barclays upped their price objective on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Two equities research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.33.

Altria Group Company 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.