Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Grows Position in Philip Morris International Inc. $PM

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) by 5.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 508,166 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 25,821 shares during the quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Philip Morris International were worth $92,466,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. WCM Investment Management LLC increased its position in Philip Morris International by 24,968.0% during the 2nd quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 11,275,606 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,041,223,000 after buying an additional 11,230,626 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Philip Morris International during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,712,994,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Philip Morris International by 26.4% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 21,840,422 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,466,730,000 after buying an additional 4,563,632 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in Philip Morris International by 57.5% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 9,794,530 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,554,686,000 after buying an additional 3,575,158 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in Philip Morris International by 22.2% during the 1st quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,018,628 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,431,527,000 after buying an additional 1,635,636 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.63% of the company’s stock.

Philip Morris International Trading Up 0.5%

Philip Morris International stock opened at $148.47 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $231.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.90, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.43. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $158.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $168.54. Philip Morris International Inc. has a 12 month low of $116.12 and a 12 month high of $186.69.

Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, March 28th. The company reported $1.59 EPS for the quarter. The business had revenue of $8.12 billion during the quarter. Philip Morris International had a negative return on equity of 122.14% and a net margin of 9.33%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Philip Morris International Inc. will post 7.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Philip Morris International Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 20th. Investors of record on Friday, October 3rd were issued a $1.47 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 3rd. This is an increase from Philip Morris International’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.35. This represents a $5.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.0%. Philip Morris International’s dividend payout ratio is presently 106.52%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PM. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Philip Morris International in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. KGI Securities began coverage on Philip Morris International in a research report on Monday, August 4th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Philip Morris International in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. They set a “buy” rating and a $220.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Philip Morris International from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on Philip Morris International from $225.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $194.00.

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.