Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. Invests $12.20 Million in Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM)

Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 101,367 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,200,000. Philip Morris International accounts for 0.9% of Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 26th largest position.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of PM. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of Philip Morris International in the 3rd quarter valued at about $206,000. McIlrath & Eck LLC increased its stake in shares of Philip Morris International by 38.5% during the third quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 561 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,000 after buying an additional 156 shares during the period. Anchor Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Philip Morris International by 3.5% during the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 46,037 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,589,000 after buying an additional 1,544 shares during the period. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co increased its stake in shares of Philip Morris International by 225.4% during the third quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co now owns 23,379 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,841,000 after buying an additional 16,194 shares during the period. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Philip Morris International by 567.0% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 50,672 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,152,000 after buying an additional 43,075 shares during the period. 78.63% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PM. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Philip Morris International from $145.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Philip Morris International from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $130.00 to $170.00 in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Philip Morris International from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $182.00 price target (up from $156.00) on shares of Philip Morris International in a research note on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Philip Morris International from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $163.00.

Philip Morris International Trading Down 0.6 %

PM stock opened at $169.17 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $263.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.51, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.46. Philip Morris International Inc. has a twelve month low of $94.42 and a twelve month high of $171.63. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $155.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $138.16.

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

Philip Morris International Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th were issued a dividend of $1.35 per share. This represents a $5.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 20th. Philip Morris International’s dividend payout ratio is presently 111.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman Andre Calantzopoulos sold 40,643 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.06, for a total transaction 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 $83,674,681.94. This trade represents a 6.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Yann Guerin sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.28, for a total value of $378,200.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 30,308 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,584,994.24. This represents a 7.62 % 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 valued at $19,655,585 over the last three months. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Philip Morris International Company 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.