Morningstar Investment Management LLC Acquires Shares of 7,899 Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM)

Morningstar Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM – Get Rating) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 7,899 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $799,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in PM. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Philip Morris International by 1.1% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 132,480,611 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,997,216,000 after purchasing an additional 1,451,582 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in Philip Morris International by 1.0% in the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 100,951,462 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,379,979,000 after purchasing an additional 962,801 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in Philip Morris International by 0.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 57,777,797 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,868,937,000 after purchasing an additional 389,746 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Philip Morris International by 22.7% in the third quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 35,468,228 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,944,500,000 after purchasing an additional 6,558,762 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Philip Morris International by 1.7% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 16,050,540 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,332,355,000 after purchasing an additional 260,832 shares during the period. 75.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Philip Morris International Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:PM traded up $0.37 during trading on Friday, hitting $91.13. 2,049,191 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,385,701. Philip Morris International Inc. has a 52 week low of $82.85 and a 52 week high of $108.63. The company has a market cap of $141.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $96.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $98.73.

Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 20th. The company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $8.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.03 billion. Philip Morris International had a negative return on equity of 128.55% and a net margin of 10.80%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.56 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Philip Morris International Inc. will post 6.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Philip Morris International Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 23rd were paid a $1.27 dividend. This represents a $5.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 22nd. Philip Morris International’s payout ratio is 90.88%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Werner Barth sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.35, for a total transaction of $786,800.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 87,321 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,588,020.35. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PM has been the subject of a number of research reports. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Philip Morris International in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. UBS Group upgraded Philip Morris International from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $106.00 to $116.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 1st. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Philip Morris International from $109.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Philip Morris International from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $109.00 to $116.00 in a report on Thursday, March 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus started coverage on Philip Morris International in a report on Thursday, April 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $114.00 target price on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $110.60.

About Philip Morris International

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Philip Morris International, Inc is a holding company engaged in the manufacturing and sale of cigarettes, tobacco, and nicotine-containing products. Its products include cigarettes and reduced-risk products, including heat-not-burn, vapor, and oral nicotine products. The firm operates through the following geographical segments: European Union, Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, South and Southeast Asia, East Asia and Australia, and Americas.