Crestwood Advisors Group LLC Purchases 1,565 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Crestwood Advisors Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 8.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,972 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,565 shares during the quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,097,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Altria Group by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 73,481,686 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,821,831,000 after acquiring an additional 3,910,738 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 729.8% during the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,969,262 shares of the company’s stock valued at $100,511,000 after acquiring an additional 1,731,932 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 1,003,605 shares during the period. National Pension Service grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 19.9% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,034,414 shares of the company’s stock worth $205,916,000 after purchasing an additional 670,858 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Altria Group in the third quarter valued at $32,206,000. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of MO stock opened at $55.15 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $52.62 and a 200-day moving average of $52.78. The company has a market cap of $93.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.64. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.25 and a 52 week high of $58.03.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.01. Altria Group had a net margin of 46.90% and a negative return on equity of 258.72%. Analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th were paid a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 26th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 62.29%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on MO. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America raised shares of Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.29.

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.