Cowa LLC Grows Stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Cowa LLC raised its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 5.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,097 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Cowa LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $366,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. GQG Partners LLC boosted its position in Altria Group by 8,146.4% in the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 18,698,594 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,122,290,000 after purchasing an additional 18,471,846 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group in the first quarter worth about $219,141,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 5.8% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 63,288,773 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,798,592,000 after buying an additional 3,483,487 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 40.0% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 11,961,220 shares of the company’s stock worth $717,913,000 after buying an additional 3,415,237 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 6,969.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,162,401 shares of the company’s stock worth $129,787,000 after buying an additional 2,131,813 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Altria Group from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Altria Group in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $50.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Altria Group from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Needham & Company LLC upgraded Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Altria Group from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $59.13.

Altria Group Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of MO opened at $65.82 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $110.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.73, a PEG ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.59. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $60.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.26. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $48.86 and a 12 month high of $66.29.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.07. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 295.26% and a net margin of 37.24%. The company had revenue of $5.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.21 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.31 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

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.