Rakuten Securities Inc. Acquires New Shares in Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM)

Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 762 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $72,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Philip Morris International by 100,700.1% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 15,640,144 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,582,939,000 after purchasing an additional 15,624,628 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Philip Morris International by 33.5% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,147,790 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,587,542,000 after purchasing an additional 4,304,089 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Philip Morris International by 12.6% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 27,821,802 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,575,742,000 after buying an additional 3,121,732 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in Philip Morris International by 122.0% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,632,467 shares of the company’s stock worth $247,294,000 after buying an additional 1,446,567 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners increased its holdings in shares of Philip Morris International by 38.5% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,940,922 shares of the company’s stock worth $456,368,000 after buying an additional 1,372,520 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.63% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on PM shares. Societe Generale raised 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. UBS Group cut Philip Morris International from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $105.00 to $86.50 in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Finally, Argus reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Philip Morris International in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $105.40.

Philip Morris International Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE PM opened at $90.59 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $91.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $92.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $140.83 billion, a PE ratio of 18.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 0.61. Philip Morris International Inc. has a 12 month low of $87.23 and a 12 month high of $101.92.

Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The company reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $9.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.99 billion. Philip Morris International had a negative return on equity of 116.29% and a net margin of 8.53%. Philip Morris International’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.39 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Philip Morris International Inc. will post 6.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Philip Morris International Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 21st were issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 20th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.74%. Philip Morris International’s payout ratio is 103.59%.

Insider Transactions at Philip Morris International

In related news, insider Massimo Andolina sold 8,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.63, for a total value of $772,447.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 94,629 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,860,113.27. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, VP Reginaldo Dobrowolski sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.69, for a total transaction of $181,380.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 9,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $882,050.94. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Massimo Andolina sold 8,250 shares of Philip Morris International stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.63, for a total transaction of $772,447.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 94,629 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,860,113.27. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 15,250 shares of company stock valued at $1,411,128 in the last ninety days. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.