First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Lowers Stock Position in Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM)

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. lessened its holdings in shares of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) by 9.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 42,141 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,407 shares during the period. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Philip Morris International were worth $6,689,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of PM. GQG Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Philip Morris International by 14.3% in the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 48,746,809 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,866,678,000 after buying an additional 6,092,558 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Philip Morris International by 19,986.5% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,486,928 shares of the company’s stock worth $712,210,000 after acquiring an additional 4,464,590 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Philip Morris International in the fourth quarter worth $522,214,000. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Philip Morris International by 372.2% in the fourth quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 5,453,285 shares of the company’s stock worth $656,303,000 after acquiring an additional 4,298,530 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Philip Morris International by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 122,584,210 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,752,926,000 after acquiring an additional 4,216,586 shares in the last quarter. 78.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on PM shares. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Philip Morris International from $168.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Philip Morris International from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Philip Morris International from $163.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $182.00 price target (up previously from $156.00) on shares of Philip Morris International in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, UBS Group raised Philip Morris International from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $130.00 to $170.00 in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $175.30.

Philip Morris International Trading Down 0.1%

NYSE:PM opened at $181.77 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $282.93 billion, a PE ratio of 40.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $167.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $147.69. Philip Morris International Inc. has a 12 month low of $98.93 and a 12 month high of $183.94.

Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The company reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $9.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.10 billion. Philip Morris International had a negative return on equity of 120.08% and a net margin of 7.89%. Philip Morris International’s revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.50 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Philip Morris International Inc. will post 7.14 earnings per share for the current year.

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.