Here is Smart Money Thinks of About Altria Group Inc (MO)

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Judging by the fact that Altria Group Inc (NYSE:MO) has experienced bearish sentiment from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it’s safe to say that there is a sect of fund managers that elected to cut their entire stakes during the third quarter. At the top of the heap, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management dropped the biggest investment of all the hedgies tracked by Insider Monkey, totaling close to $59.2 million in call options.. Ken Griffin’s fund, Citadel Investment Group, also said goodbye to its call options., about $57.2 million worth.

Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Altria Group Inc (NYSE:MO). These stocks are UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE:UNH), Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C), PetroChina Company Limited (ADR) (NYSE:PTR), and HSBC Holdings plc (ADR) (NYSE:HSBC). All of these stocks’ market caps are similar to MO’s market cap.

Ticker No of HFs with positions Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) Change in HF Position
UNH 52 2703217 -3
C 97 8707804 0
PTR 11 36044 0
HSBC 14 1058521 -4

As you can see these stocks had an average of 44 funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $3.13 billion. That figure was $1.77 billion in Altria Group’s case. Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand PetroChina Company Limited (ADR) (NYSE:PTR) is the least popular one with only 11 bullish hedge fund positions. Altria Group Inc (NYSE:MO) is not the least popular stock in this group, but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard, Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) might be a better candidate to consider a long position.

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