Trustmark National Bank Trust Department Purchases 816 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Trustmark National Bank Trust Department lifted its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 14.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,631 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 816 shares during the period. Trustmark National Bank Trust Department’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $338,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MO. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 729.8% in the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,969,262 shares of the company’s stock worth $100,511,000 after acquiring an additional 1,731,932 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of 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 worth $88,985,000 after acquiring an additional 1,698,585 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 25.0% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company’s stock worth $295,055,000 after acquiring an additional 1,299,703 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in Altria Group by 415.4% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 984,285 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,935,000 after buying an additional 793,327 shares during the period. Finally, National Pension Service grew its position in Altria Group by 19.9% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,034,414 shares of the company’s stock valued at $205,916,000 after buying an additional 670,858 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on MO shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Altria Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.33.

Altria Group Stock Performance

MO stock opened at $56.06 on Friday. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $39.25 and a one year high of $56.55. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $51.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $49.56. The company has a market capitalization of $95.00 billion, a PE ratio of 9.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.64.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.33 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.28 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal 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.