Rather & Kittrell Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Philip Morris International Inc. $PM

Rather & Kittrell Inc. grew its stake in Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) by 274.5% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 4,119 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,019 shares during the quarter. Rather & Kittrell Inc.’s holdings in Philip Morris International were worth $668,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PM. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Philip Morris International by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 142,857,055 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,018,555,000 after buying an additional 2,235,380 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in Philip Morris International by 1.6% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 55,831,655 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,243,429,000 after acquiring an additional 871,165 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Philip Morris International by 1.8% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 37,181,107 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,760,346,000 after purchasing an additional 672,983 shares during the period. WCM Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 worth $2,041,223,000 after purchasing an additional 11,230,626 shares during the period. Finally, Fayez Sarofim & Co increased its position in shares of Philip Morris International by 7.9% during the 2nd quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co now owns 10,676,908 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,944,585,000 after purchasing an additional 782,536 shares during the last quarter. 78.63% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley set a $175.00 price objective on shares of Philip Morris International and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $180.00 price target on Philip Morris International in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Barclays dropped their price objective on Philip Morris International from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Philip Morris International in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Philip Morris International from $190.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 26th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $189.00.

Philip Morris International Stock Performance

PM stock opened at $173.66 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $157.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $161.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $270.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.46, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.40. Philip Morris International Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $119.30 and a fifty-two week high of $186.69.

Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 24th. The company reported $2.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.10 by $0.14. Philip Morris International had a net margin of 9.33% and a negative return on equity of 122.14%. The company had revenue of $10.85 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.67 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.91 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Philip Morris International Inc. will post 7.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Philip Morris International Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 26th were given a dividend of $1.47 per share. This represents a $5.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 26th. Philip Morris International’s dividend payout ratio is currently 106.52%.

About Philip Morris International

Philip Morris International Inc (NYSE: PM) is a global tobacco company that manufactures and sells cigarettes, other nicotine-containing products and a growing portfolio of smoke-free alternatives for adult smokers. The firm traces its corporate roots to the 19th century Philip Morris enterprise and was established as an independent, publicly traded company following a 2008 separation from what is now Altria. Since the spin-off, the company has focused on serving international markets outside the United States.

PMI’s product mix includes traditional combustible cigarettes as well as smoke-free offerings such as heated tobacco systems and other reduced-risk products.