Steph & Co. Lowers Position in Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM)

Steph & Co. trimmed its position in Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) by 7.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 8,467 shares of the company’s stock after selling 663 shares during the period. Steph & Co.’s holdings in Philip Morris International were worth $1,019,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PM. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Philip Morris International by 0.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 54,711,621 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,715,237,000 after purchasing an additional 224,840 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Philip Morris International by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 32,101,324 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,886,818,000 after buying an additional 621,034 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in Philip Morris International by 40.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,168,446 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,812,649,000 after buying an additional 6,721,094 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Philip Morris International by 3.0% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 13,000,570 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,560,752,000 after buying an additional 376,406 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Philip Morris International by 7.4% in the second quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 10,655,948 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,079,767,000 after acquiring an additional 736,961 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.63% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Philip Morris International

In related news, Chairman Andre Calantzopoulos sold 101,918 shares of Philip Morris International 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 in the company, valued at approximately $124,624,965.85. The trade was a 9.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction 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 business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.98, for a total value of $974,850.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 95,418 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,402,431.64. This represents a 7.29 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on PM shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Philip Morris International from $118.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Philip Morris International from $155.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Philip Morris International from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. 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. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Philip Morris International from $118.50 to $132.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.35.

Philip Morris International Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of PM opened at $118.45 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $125.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $121.07. The firm has a market cap of $184.17 billion, a PE ratio of 18.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 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.

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

Philip Morris International Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th were issued a $1.35 dividend. This represents a $5.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.56%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 26th. Philip Morris International’s payout ratio is 85.71%.

Philip Morris International Company 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.