Ascent Group LLC Decreases Position in Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM)

Ascent Group LLC lowered its position in Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) by 22.2% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 36,335 shares of the company’s stock after selling 10,371 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC’s holdings in Philip Morris International were worth $4,411,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in PM. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Philip Morris International by 40.9% in 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. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Philip Morris International by 16.3% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 13,234,478 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,341,050,000 after acquiring an additional 1,856,551 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Philip Morris International by 7.4% during the second quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 10,655,948 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,079,767,000 after acquiring an additional 736,961 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in Philip Morris International by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 10,430,837 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,056,957,000 after purchasing an additional 469,806 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ninety One UK Ltd raised its stake in Philip Morris International by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 9,467,759 shares of the company’s stock valued at $959,368,000 after purchasing an additional 86,667 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.63% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on PM shares. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Philip Morris International from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Philip Morris International from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Philip Morris International from $126.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $145.00 price objective (up previously from $138.00) on shares of Philip Morris International in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on Philip Morris International from $125.00 to $139.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Philip Morris International

In other Philip Morris International news, insider Werner Barth sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Andre Calantzopoulos sold 101,918 shares of the business’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 in the company, valued at approximately $124,624,965.85. The trade was a 9.60 % 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 corporate insiders.

Philip Morris International Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PM opened at $133.06 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $125.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $115.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $206.89 billion, a PE ratio of 21.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.54. Philip Morris International Inc. has a 12 month low of $87.82 and a 12 month high of $134.15.

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

Philip Morris International Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 26th were issued a $1.35 dividend. This is an increase from Philip Morris International’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.30. This represents a $5.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.06%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 26th. Philip Morris International’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.