Ritholtz Wealth Management Acquires 9,345 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Ritholtz Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 149,925 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,345 shares during the quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $7,652,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Silverlake Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Altria Group by 6.9% during the third quarter. Silverlake Wealth Management LLC now owns 28,327 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,446,000 after acquiring an additional 1,825 shares during the last quarter. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 98,738 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,139,000 after purchasing an additional 5,165 shares during the period. Next Level Private LLC raised its holdings in Altria Group by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. Next Level Private LLC now owns 36,485 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,862,000 after buying an additional 2,436 shares during the period. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH lifted its position in Altria Group by 14.2% in the third quarter. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH now owns 10,122 shares of the company’s stock worth $517,000 after buying an additional 1,259 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Altria Group by 7.3% during the third quarter. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC now owns 6,804 shares of the company’s stock worth $337,000 after buying an additional 465 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MO. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Citigroup upped their target price on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group raised their price target on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on Altria Group from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $50.17.

Altria Group Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of Altria Group stock traded up $0.16 during trading on Friday, hitting $49.84. 4,542,807 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,065,752. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.53. The firm has a market cap of $85.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.65. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $39.06 and a 52-week high of $54.95.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.04). Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 232.55% and a net margin of 42.25%. The business had revenue of $6.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.39 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.31 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.19%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This is a positive change from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 85.36%.

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.