RKL Wealth Management LLC Buys Shares of 4,019 Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

RKL Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 4,019 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $205,000.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in Altria Group by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,355,509 shares of the company’s stock valued at $562,793,000 after purchasing an additional 191,236 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 25.0% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company’s stock valued at $295,055,000 after acquiring an additional 1,299,703 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,060,589 shares of the company’s stock valued at $230,510,000 after acquiring an additional 243,201 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 4,888,137 shares of the company’s stock valued at $222,655,000 after acquiring an additional 215,594 shares during the period. Finally, National Pension Service raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 19.9% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,034,414 shares of the company’s stock valued at $205,916,000 after acquiring an additional 670,858 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group increased their price target 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. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Altria Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $51.33.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of MO stock opened at $54.05 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $91.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.64. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $51.50 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $48.81. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.25 and a 52 week high of $55.05.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced 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. The firm 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.28 EPS. Analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $1.02 per share. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.92%.

Altria Group Company 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.