Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Acquires 3,701 Shares of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM)

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) by 41.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,730 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,701 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Philip Morris International were worth $1,166,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. PFG Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Philip Morris International by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 5,951 shares of the company’s stock worth $560,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares during the period. CGC Financial Services LLC lifted its position in Philip Morris International by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. CGC Financial Services LLC now owns 1,453 shares of the company’s stock valued at $137,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Philip Morris International by 0.3% during the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 36,857 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,412,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. Bluesphere Advisors LLC lifted its position in Philip Morris International by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Bluesphere Advisors LLC now owns 17,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,599,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. lifted its position in Philip Morris International by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. now owns 29,316 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,758,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.63% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Philip Morris International from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Philip Morris International has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $104.22.

Philip Morris International Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of PM traded up $0.19 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $101.61. 592,068 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,400,922. Philip Morris International Inc. has a 1 year low of $87.23 and a 1 year high of $104.90. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $100.46 and its 200-day moving average is $95.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $157.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.58.

Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.09. Philip Morris International had a negative return on equity of 113.26% and a net margin of 8.58%. The firm had revenue of $8.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.44 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.38 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Philip Morris International Inc. will post 6.32 EPS for the current year.

Philip Morris International Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 21st will be paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 21st. Philip Morris International’s payout ratio is currently 101.56%.

Insider Transactions at Philip Morris International

In other news, insider Wilde Frederic De sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

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.