West Family Investments Inc. Invests $285,000 in Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM)

West Family Investments Inc. bought a new position in shares of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 3,032 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $285,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of PM. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Philip Morris International by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. now owns 603,442 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,772,000 after acquiring an additional 13,416 shares during the period. Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Philip Morris International in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,251,000. Amica Mutual Insurance Co. increased its stake in shares of Philip Morris International by 5.5% during the third quarter. Amica Mutual Insurance Co. now owns 147,492 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,655,000 after acquiring an additional 7,726 shares during the period. NewEdge Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Philip Morris International by 69.9% during the 4th quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 50,865 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,785,000 after buying an additional 20,918 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Chiron Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Philip Morris International by 2.0% during the third quarter. Chiron Investment Management LLC now owns 354,558 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,825,000 after acquiring an additional 6,981 shares during the period. 78.63% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on PM. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Philip Morris International from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Argus reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Philip Morris International in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. UBS Group downgraded Philip Morris International from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $105.00 to $86.50 in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Finally, Societe Generale upgraded Philip Morris International from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $87.50 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Philip Morris International currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $105.50.

Philip Morris International Price Performance

PM traded up $1.00 on Thursday, hitting $97.05. The company had a trading volume of 1,128,466 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,706,917. Philip Morris International Inc. has a 1-year low of $87.23 and a 1-year high of $100.70. The stock has a market cap of $150.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.60. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $92.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $92.25.

Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $8.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.44 billion. Philip Morris International had a net margin of 8.58% and a negative return on equity of 113.26%. The business’s revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.38 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Philip Morris International Inc. will post 6.3 EPS for the current year.

Philip Morris International Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 21st were paid a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 20th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.36%. Philip Morris International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 101.56%.

Insider Activity at Philip Morris International

In other news, insider Werner Barth sold 5,000 shares of Philip Morris International stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.46, for a total transaction of $457,300.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 102,918 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,412,880.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Philip Morris International news, insider Werner Barth sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.46, for a total transaction of $457,300.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 102,918 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,412,880.28. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Wilde Frederic De sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.42, for a total transaction of $1,928,400.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 178,447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,205,859.74. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 35,250 shares of company stock worth $3,339,528. 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.