Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Has $582,000 Stock Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 9.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,129 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,147 shares during the quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $582,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MO. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 14.5% during the 4th quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,507 shares of the company’s stock worth $340,000 after purchasing an additional 826 shares during the last quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $218,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 15,686 shares of the company’s stock worth $820,000 after purchasing an additional 926 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 91,765 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,798,000 after purchasing an additional 2,948 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pure Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 115.3% during the 4th quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 35,854 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,875,000 after purchasing an additional 19,202 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on 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. StockNews.com downgraded Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group lifted their target price on Altria Group from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays lifted their target price on Altria Group from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Altria Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Altria Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.00.

Altria Group Price Performance

MO opened at $59.85 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $58.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $55.58. The company has a market capitalization of $100.81 billion, a PE ratio of 9.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.60. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $43.83 and a 1 year high of $61.26.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $4.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.64 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 258.72% and a net margin of 46.90%. The company’s revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.15 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.82%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 68.34%.

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.