Advisory Alpha LLC Purchases 289 Shares of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM)

Advisory Alpha LLC raised its holdings in shares of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) by 6.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,658 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 289 shares during the period. Advisory Alpha LLC’s holdings in Philip Morris International were worth $561,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Philip Morris International by 0.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 54,711,621 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,715,237,000 after acquiring an additional 224,840 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Philip Morris International by 2.0% in 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 purchasing an additional 621,034 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Philip Morris International by 40.9% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,168,446 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,812,649,000 after purchasing an additional 6,721,094 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Philip Morris International by 3.0% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 13,000,570 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,560,752,000 after purchasing an additional 376,406 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in Philip Morris International by 4.7% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 10,430,837 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,056,957,000 after purchasing an additional 469,806 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.63% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup boosted their target price on Philip Morris International from $118.50 to $132.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Philip Morris International from $126.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Philip Morris International from $118.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Philip Morris International from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on Philip Morris International in a report on Thursday, January 16th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $140.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Philip Morris International currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.35.

Philip Morris International Price Performance

Shares of Philip Morris International stock opened at $122.91 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $191.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.54. Philip Morris International Inc. has a one year low of $87.82 and a one year high of $134.15. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $125.43 and its 200-day moving average is $121.76.

Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.09. Philip Morris International had a negative return on equity of 117.94% and a net margin of 10.35%. The firm had revenue of $9.91 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.68 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.67 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Philip Morris International Inc. will post 6.5 EPS for the current year.

Philip Morris International Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th were issued a dividend of $1.35 per share. This represents a $5.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.39%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 26th. Philip Morris International’s payout ratio is 85.71%.

About Philip Morris International

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.