Yacktman Asset Management LP Sells 601 Shares of Philip Morris International Inc. $PM

Yacktman Asset Management LP cut its position in shares of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) by 8.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,700 shares of the company’s stock after selling 601 shares during the quarter. Yacktman Asset Management LP’s holdings in Philip Morris International were worth $1,220,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of PM. WCM Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Philip Morris International by 24,968.0% during the second quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 11,275,606 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,041,223,000 after buying an additional 11,230,626 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Philip Morris International in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,712,994,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Philip Morris International by 26.4% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 21,840,422 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,466,730,000 after purchasing an additional 4,563,632 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in Philip Morris International by 57.5% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 9,794,530 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,554,686,000 after purchasing an additional 3,575,158 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Philip Morris International by 22.2% in the first quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,018,628 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,431,527,000 after purchasing an additional 1,635,636 shares in the last quarter. 78.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on PM shares. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Philip Morris International from $225.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $180.00 target price on Philip Morris International in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. KGI Securities assumed coverage on Philip Morris International in a research note on Monday, August 4th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Morgan Stanley set a $175.00 target price on Philip Morris International and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Philip Morris International in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Philip Morris International currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $194.00.

Philip Morris International Trading Up 0.5%

NYSE:PM opened at $148.47 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $231.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.90, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.43. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $158.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $168.54. Philip Morris International Inc. has a 1-year low of $116.12 and a 1-year high of $186.69.

Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 28th. The company reported $1.59 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of $8.12 billion during the quarter. Philip Morris International had a negative return on equity of 122.14% and a net margin of 9.33%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Philip Morris International Inc. will post 7.14 EPS for the current year.

Philip Morris International Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 3rd were issued a $1.47 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 3rd. This represents a $5.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. This is a boost from Philip Morris International’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.35. Philip Morris International’s payout ratio is presently 106.52%.

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.