Crews Bank & Trust Takes $127,000 Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 2,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $127,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,159,890 shares of the company’s stock valued at $107,679,000 after purchasing an additional 46,697 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its position in Altria Group by 15.3% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 305,704 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,603,000 after buying an additional 40,574 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank raised its holdings in Altria Group by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 367,469 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,215,000 after buying an additional 19,893 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 240,454 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,573,000 after buying an additional 12,011 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 1,456,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,330,000 after acquiring an additional 32,318 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup raised their price objective on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Barclays raised their target price on shares of 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 boosted their target price for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, StockNews.com raised 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.29.

Altria Group Price Performance

NYSE MO opened at $52.20 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $53.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $52.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.01. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 233.80% and a net margin of 42.82%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th were given a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.82%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 62.29%.

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.