338,406 Shares of Philip Morris International Inc. $PM Bought by Factory Mutual Insurance Co.

Factory Mutual Insurance Co. purchased a new stake in Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 338,406 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,575,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in Philip Morris International by 0.4% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 108,039,522 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,545,430,000 after acquiring an additional 444,449 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Philip Morris International by 1.0% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 55,569,994 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,134,454,000 after acquiring an additional 536,968 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Philip Morris International during the second quarter worth $8,220,008,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Philip Morris International by 3.9% during the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 17,506,171 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,167,041,000 after acquiring an additional 650,587 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in Philip Morris International in the second quarter valued at $3,075,267,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.63% of the company’s stock.

Philip Morris International Stock Performance

Shares of PM stock opened at $207.48 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $323.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.34. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $194.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $182.33. Philip Morris International Inc. has a one year low of $144.22 and a one year high of $214.35.

Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 21st. The company reported $2.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $11.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.32 billion. Philip Morris International had a net margin of 10.73% and a negative return on equity of 183.96%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.24 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Philip Morris International Inc. will post 8.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Philip Morris International Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 2nd were given a dividend of $1.60 per share. This is an increase from Philip Morris International’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.47. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 2nd. Philip Morris International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 93.43%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on PM. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Philip Morris International from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Citigroup increased their price target on Philip Morris International from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Philip Morris International from $205.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. BTIG Research set a $221.00 price objective on shares of Philip Morris International and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on shares of Philip Morris International from $215.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Philip Morris International presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $212.40.

Philip Morris International Company Profile

Philip Morris International Inc (NYSE:PM) is a global tobacco and nicotine company headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut. It was established as an independent company in 2008 following the separation of Philip Morris International from Altria Group. The company develops, manufactures and markets tobacco, nicotine and other related consumer products primarily outside the United States.

Its portfolio includes internationally recognized cigarette brands such as Marlboro, Parliament, L&M, Chesterfield and Bond Street.