Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. Raises Stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) by 14.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 235,881 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 28,995 shares during the quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc.'s holdings in Altria Group were worth $14,158,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 41,938,507 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,193,687,000 after purchasing an additional 1,134,748 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 22,273,491 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,164,681,000 after purchasing an additional 76,004 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,432,535 shares of the company's stock valued at $859,257,000 after purchasing an additional 1,444,021 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,801,958 shares of the company's stock valued at $617,124,000 after purchasing an additional 983,328 shares during the period. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 17.4% during the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 8,927,340 shares of the company's stock valued at $466,811,000 after purchasing an additional 1,323,421 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company's stock.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.8%

MO opened at $59.62 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $59.28 and a 200 day moving average of $56.47. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $45.87 and a 52-week high of $61.26. The stock has a market cap of $100.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.99, a PEG ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 0.59.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $4.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.64 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 295.44% and a net margin of 43.09%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.15 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.84%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. Altria Group's payout ratio is 68.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays upped their target price on Altria Group from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Wall Street Zen downgraded Altria Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Altria Group from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. UBS Group upgraded Altria Group from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their target price for the company from $47.00 to $59.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upgraded Altria Group to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Altria Group has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $57.71.

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.

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