Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Trims Stock Position in Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD cut its stake in shares of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) by 40.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,696,841 shares of the company’s stock after selling 11,530,797 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned approximately 1.07% of Philip Morris International worth $1,529,765,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PM. GQG Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Philip Morris International by 5,006.0% during the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 5,958,391 shares of the company’s stock valued at $545,908,000 after acquiring an additional 5,841,696 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in Philip Morris International by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 58,416,175 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,495,794,000 after purchasing an additional 4,869,272 shares during the period. Lone Pine Capital LLC bought a new position in Philip Morris International in the 4th quarter worth approximately $282,785,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Philip Morris International by 25.5% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 10,439,154 shares of the company’s stock worth $996,104,000 after purchasing an additional 2,123,311 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in Philip Morris International by 5,045.1% in the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,122,729 shares of the company’s stock worth $194,484,000 after purchasing an additional 2,081,472 shares during the period. 78.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Philip Morris International Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE:PM traded up $0.16 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $113.36. 5,381,717 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,451,253. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $103.26 and its 200-day moving average is $96.53. Philip Morris International Inc. has a 12-month low of $87.23 and a 12-month high of $113.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $176.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.58.

Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The company reported $1.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.02. Philip Morris International had a negative return on equity of 113.32% and a net margin of 10.92%. The company had revenue of $9.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.19 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.60 EPS. Philip Morris International’s quarterly revenue was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Philip Morris International Inc. will post 6.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Philip Morris International Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 21st were paid a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 21st. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.59%. Philip Morris International’s payout ratio is 101.56%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on PM. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Philip Morris International from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. StockNews.com upgraded Philip Morris International from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Philip Morris International from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Bank of America upped their price target on Philip Morris International from $110.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Philip Morris International from $110.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Philip Morris International has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $107.80.

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.