Shum Financial Group Inc. Takes $340,000 Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Shum Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 6,281 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $340,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MO. Waverly Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 97.5% in the first quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 35,443 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,546,000 after purchasing an additional 17,499 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 10.5% in the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 195,097 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,510,000 after buying an additional 18,482 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Altria Group by 14.4% during the first quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 91,794 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,948,000 after purchasing an additional 11,546 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co lifted its stake in Altria Group by 38.4% during the first quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co now owns 14,429 shares of the company’s stock worth $629,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000 shares during the period. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 57.1% in the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 201,795 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,804,000 after acquiring an additional 73,310 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Altria Group Stock Performance

NYSE:MO traded up $0.31 on Tuesday, hitting $57.06. The stock had a trading volume of 643,068 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,687,264. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $49.81. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $39.25 and a 1 year high of $57.25. The stock has a market cap of $96.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.64.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.33 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.82% and a negative return on equity of 233.80%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.28 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on MO shares. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target 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. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Bank of America decreased 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 note on Tuesday, October 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Altria Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $51.33.

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.