Rockline Wealth Management LLC Grows Stock Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Rockline Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 7.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,403 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the quarter. Rockline Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $230,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp raised its stake in Altria Group by 5.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 73,481,686 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,821,831,000 after buying an additional 3,910,738 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 729.8% during the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,969,262 shares of the company’s stock valued at $100,511,000 after purchasing an additional 1,731,932 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 3,786.6% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,743,443 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,985,000 after acquiring an additional 1,698,585 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 2.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,803,759 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,079,919,000 after buying an additional 1,003,605 shares during the period. Finally, National Pension Service grew its stake in Altria Group by 19.9% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,034,414 shares of the company’s stock valued at $205,916,000 after purchasing an additional 670,858 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Altria Group Trading Up 1.2 %

Altria Group stock opened at $52.87 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $53.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $52.37. The stock has a market cap of $89.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.07, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.64. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.25 and a 12-month high of $58.03.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.01. Altria Group had a net margin of 46.90% and a negative return on equity of 258.72%. As a group, analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were given a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.72%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 62.29%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America raised shares of Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. 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 note on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised 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. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.29.

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.