Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. Acquires Shares of 33,500 Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM)

Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. acquired a new stake in Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 33,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,032,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of PM. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its position in shares of Philip Morris International by 133.6% in the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 69,206 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,402,000 after acquiring an additional 39,574 shares during the period. Graypoint LLC increased its position in shares of Philip Morris International by 6.2% during the third quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 11,318 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,374,000 after buying an additional 657 shares during the period. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC increased its position in shares of Philip Morris International by 1.6% during the third quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC now owns 5,452 shares of the company’s stock valued at $662,000 after buying an additional 86 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Philip Morris International by 5.0% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,774,350 shares of the company’s stock valued at $215,406,000 after buying an additional 85,043 shares during the period. Finally, Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS increased its position in shares of Philip Morris International by 7.7% during the third quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 5,437 shares of the company’s stock valued at $660,000 after buying an additional 391 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.63% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on PM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Philip Morris International from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Philip Morris International from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Philip Morris International from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Philip Morris International from $145.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Philip Morris International in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $140.00 price objective on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Philip Morris International has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $144.56.

Philip Morris International Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of Philip Morris International stock opened at $151.05 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $234.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.53. The company’s 50 day moving average is $136.06 and its 200 day moving average is $129.00. Philip Morris International Inc. has a twelve month low of $87.82 and a twelve month high of $159.51.

Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.06. Philip Morris International had a net margin of 7.89% and a negative return on equity of 120.08%. Sell-side analysts expect that Philip Morris International Inc. will post 7.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Philip Morris International Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be paid a $1.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $5.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.57%. Philip Morris International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 119.73%.

Insider Transactions at Philip Morris International

In related news, SVP Yann Guerin sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.28, for a total transaction of $378,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 30,308 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,584,994.24. This represents a 7.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Werner Barth sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.67, for a total transaction of $1,486,700.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 106,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,795,295.48. This represents a 8.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 131,822 shares of company stock valued at $19,655,585 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

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.