Northern Trust Corp Sells 162,749 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. $MO

Northern Trust Corp lowered its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 1.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,269,786 shares of the company’s stock after selling 162,749 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $976,513,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group during the 1st quarter worth about $31,000. Sierra Ocean LLC boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 226.3% during the 1st quarter. Sierra Ocean LLC now owns 509 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 353 shares in the last quarter. Pinney & Scofield Inc. bought a new position in shares of Altria Group during the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. Bellwether Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group during the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, TruNorth Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 51.8% during the 1st quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 636 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Trading Up 0.3%

Altria Group stock opened at $66.00 on Tuesday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $48.86 and a 1-year high of $66.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $110.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.77, a P/E/G ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 0.59. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $58.44.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.07. Altria Group had a net margin of 37.24% and a negative return on equity of 295.26%. The business had revenue of $5.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.21 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.31 EPS. Altria Group’s revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Altria Group from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Altria Group in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $50.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Altria Group from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Altria Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $59.13.

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.