Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Sells 1,147 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 9.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 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 reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 59,805,286 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,127,218,000 after buying an additional 2,296,972 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 41,938,507 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,193,687,000 after buying an additional 1,134,748 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 22,273,491 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,164,681,000 after buying an additional 76,004 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 9.6% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,432,535 shares of the company’s stock worth $859,257,000 after buying an additional 1,444,021 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,801,958 shares of the company’s stock worth $617,124,000 after buying an additional 983,328 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $60.00 target price on Altria Group in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup upped their target price on Altria Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Altria Group from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $56.00.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of MO opened at $59.85 on Wednesday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $43.83 and a 1 year high of $61.26. The company has a market capitalization of $100.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.60. The business has a 50-day moving average of $58.08 and a 200-day moving average of $55.58.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.04. The business 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.15 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

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

About Altria Group

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.