Bank of Montreal Can Sells 1,295,136 Shares of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM)

Bank of Montreal Can decreased its stake in shares of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) by 40.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,875,413 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,295,136 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can owned 0.12% of Philip Morris International worth $225,706,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in Philip Morris International in the third quarter worth $206,000. Dunhill Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Philip Morris International by 203.8% during the 3rd quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 240 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the period. Hodges Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Philip Morris International during the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,861,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Philip Morris International by 0.9% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,156,618 shares of the company’s stock valued at $140,413,000 after acquiring an additional 10,169 shares during the period. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment raised its position in Philip Morris International by 86.3% in the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 116,994 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,203,000 after purchasing an additional 54,188 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.63% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Philip Morris International

In other Philip Morris International news, VP Reginaldo Dobrowolski sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.88, for a total transaction of $749,400.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 20,799 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,117,354.12. This trade represents a 19.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Andre Calantzopoulos sold 40,643 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.06, for a total value of $6,058,245.58. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 561,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $83,674,681.94. This trade represents a 6.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 131,822 shares of company stock worth $19,655,585 in the last quarter. 0.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Philip Morris International Price Performance

Shares of Philip Morris International stock opened at $150.93 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $149.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $133.57. Philip Morris International Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $87.82 and a fifty-two week high of $163.08. The firm has a market cap of $234.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.46.

Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.06. Philip Morris International had a negative return on equity of 120.08% and a net margin of 7.89%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Philip Morris International Inc. will post 7.14 EPS for the current year.

Philip Morris International Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be paid a $1.35 dividend. This represents a $5.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.58%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. Philip Morris International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 119.73%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Philip Morris International from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Barclays increased their price objective on Philip Morris International from $145.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Philip Morris International from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Argus raised shares of Philip Morris International from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Philip Morris International from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $144.56.

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.