Birch Capital Management LLC Makes New $84,000 Investment in Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM)

Birch Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $84,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bath Savings Trust Co raised its stake in shares of Philip Morris International by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Bath Savings Trust Co now owns 13,515 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,627,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Spartan Planning & Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Philip Morris International during the fourth quarter worth about $407,000. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Philip Morris International by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,302 shares of the company’s stock valued at $277,000 after buying an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Bangor Savings Bank boosted its holdings in Philip Morris International by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 3,818 shares of the company’s stock worth $459,000 after buying an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC boosted its stake in shares of Philip Morris International by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC now owns 51,274 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,171,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. 78.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on PM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Philip Morris International from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Philip Morris International from $126.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $145.00 price objective (up from $138.00) on shares of Philip Morris International in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Philip Morris International from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Philip Morris International from $118.50 to $132.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Philip Morris International presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Chairman Andre Calantzopoulos sold 101,918 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.85, for a total transaction of $13,234,052.30. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 959,761 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $124,624,965.85. This trade represents a 9.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Werner Barth sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.98, for a total value of $974,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 95,418 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,402,431.64. This trade represents a 7.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Philip Morris International Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of PM traded up $0.27 on Tuesday, hitting $121.27. 1,544,353 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,306,260. The firm has a market capitalization of $188.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.54. Philip Morris International Inc. has a 1 year low of $87.82 and a 1 year high of $134.15. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $127.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $120.30.

Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $9.91 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.68 billion. Philip Morris International had a negative return on equity of 117.94% and a net margin of 10.35%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.67 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Philip Morris International Inc. will post 6.51 EPS for the current year.

Philip Morris International Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th will be issued a dividend of $1.35 per share. This represents a $5.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.45%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 26th. Philip Morris International’s payout ratio is 85.71%.

Philip Morris International Profile

Philip Morris International Inc operates as a tobacco company working to delivers a smoke-free future and evolving portfolio for the long-term to include products outside of the tobacco and nicotine sector. The company's product portfolio primarily consists of cigarettes and smoke-free products, including heat-not-burn, vapor, and oral nicotine products primarily under the IQOS and ZYN brands; and consumer accessories, such as lighters and matches.