Freestone Capital Holdings LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Freestone Capital Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 0.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 73,429 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 572 shares during the quarter. Freestone Capital Holdings LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $3,840,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MO. Ethos Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the fourth quarter worth about $168,000. Inceptionr LLC bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the fourth quarter worth about $1,714,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the fourth quarter worth about $137,536,000. Promus Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Altria Group in the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 224,556 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,742,000 after buying an additional 917 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on MO. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. 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 stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.29.

Altria Group Stock Performance

MO stock opened at $55.95 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $52.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $53.01. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $40.65 and a 52-week high of $58.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $94.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.54, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.64.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.01. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 258.72% and a net margin of 46.90%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 25th will be issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 25th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.29%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 62.29%.

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.