Wilde Frederic De Sells 20,000 Shares of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) Stock

Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) insider Wilde Frederic De sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.42, for a total transaction of $1,928,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 178,447 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,205,859.74. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Philip Morris International Stock Down 1.1 %

NYSE:PM opened at $95.02 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $147.71 billion, a PE ratio of 18.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.61. Philip Morris International Inc. has a 12 month low of $87.23 and a 12 month high of $100.79. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $91.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $92.18.

Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.09. Philip Morris International had a net margin of 9.83% and a negative return on equity of 113.26%. The firm had revenue of $8.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.44 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.38 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Philip Morris International Inc. will post 6.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Philip Morris International Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 21st were given a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 20th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.47%. Philip Morris International’s payout ratio is 101.56%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Philip Morris International

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of PM. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in Philip Morris International by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 58,416,175 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,495,794,000 after buying an additional 4,869,272 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Philip Morris International by 33.5% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,147,790 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,587,542,000 after buying an additional 4,304,089 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Philip Morris International by 12.6% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 27,821,802 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,575,742,000 after buying an additional 3,121,732 shares during the period. Lone Pine Capital LLC acquired a new position in Philip Morris International in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $282,785,000. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Philip Morris International by 25.5% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 10,439,154 shares of the company’s stock valued at $996,104,000 after buying an additional 2,123,311 shares during the period. 78.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on PM shares. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Philip Morris International from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Societe Generale raised shares of Philip Morris International from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $87.50 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. Argus reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Philip Morris International in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, UBS Group cut shares of Philip Morris International from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $105.00 to $86.50 in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $105.50.

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.