Utah Retirement Systems Buys 500 Shares of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM)

Utah Retirement Systems raised its stake in Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) by 0.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 257,775 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the quarter. Utah Retirement Systems’ holdings in Philip Morris International were worth $31,023,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Meridian Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in Philip Morris International by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Meridian Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,781 shares of the company’s stock valued at $214,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Philip Morris International by 53.7% in the fourth quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 206 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV lifted its position in shares of Philip Morris International by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 3,628 shares of the company’s stock valued at $437,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Balboa Wealth Partners lifted its position in shares of Philip Morris International by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Balboa Wealth Partners now owns 3,712 shares of the company’s stock valued at $447,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cravens & Co Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Philip Morris International by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Cravens & Co Advisors LLC now owns 10,052 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,210,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. 78.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PM has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays raised their price objective on Philip Morris International from $145.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. UBS Group raised Philip Morris International from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $130.00 to $170.00 in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Philip Morris International from $163.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Philip Morris International from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Philip Morris International from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Philip Morris International has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $163.00.

Philip Morris International Stock Performance

PM stock opened at $170.28 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $156.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $138.39. Philip Morris International Inc. has a 52 week low of $94.42 and a 52 week high of $171.63. The company has a market capitalization of $265.04 billion, a PE ratio of 37.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.46.

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

Philip Morris International Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th were paid a $1.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $5.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.17%. Philip Morris International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 111.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Philip Morris International news, SVP Yann Guerin sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.28, for a total transaction of $378,200.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 30,308 shares in the company, valued at $4,584,994.24. This represents a 7.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Lars Dahlgren sold 3,679 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.96, for a total transaction of $562,739.84. Following the sale, the insider now owns 26,828 shares in the company, valued at $4,103,610.88. The trade was a 12.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 131,822 shares of company stock worth $19,655,585 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

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.