Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Buys 17,293 Shares of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM)

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) by 110.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 32,972 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 17,293 shares during the period. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s holdings in Philip Morris International were worth $3,102,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 4,304,089 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Philip Morris International by 12.6% during 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. Boston Partners increased its position in shares of Philip Morris International by 38.5% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,940,922 shares of the company’s stock valued at $456,368,000 after buying an additional 1,372,520 shares during the period. London Co. of Virginia increased its position in shares of Philip Morris International by 52.2% during the third quarter. London Co. of Virginia now owns 3,110,353 shares of the company’s stock valued at $287,956,000 after buying an additional 1,066,871 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Philip Morris International by 24.7% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,841,714 shares of the company’s stock valued at $448,246,000 after buying an additional 958,894 shares during the period. 78.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Philip Morris International Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of PM stock opened at $97.40 on Friday. Philip Morris International Inc. has a 12 month low of $87.23 and a 12 month high of $100.70. The stock has a market cap of $151.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $92.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $92.31.

Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM) last announced its 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 8.58% and a negative return on equity of 113.26%. The business had revenue of $8.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.44 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.38 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Philip Morris International Inc. will post 6.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Philip Morris International Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 21st were paid a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 20th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.34%. Philip Morris International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 101.56%.

Insider Transactions at Philip Morris International

In other news, VP Reginaldo Dobrowolski sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.69, for a total value of $181,380.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 9,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $882,050.94. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, VP Reginaldo Dobrowolski sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.69, for a total transaction of $181,380.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 9,726 shares in the company, valued at $882,050.94. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Wilde Frederic De sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.42, for a total transaction of $1,928,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 178,447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,205,859.74. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 35,250 shares of company stock valued at $3,339,528 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on PM shares. UBS Group lowered shares of Philip Morris International from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $105.00 to $86.50 in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. Societe Generale raised shares of Philip Morris International from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $87.50 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Philip Morris International from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Argus reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Philip Morris International in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. One equities 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $105.50.

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.