ACT Advisors LLC. Boosts Holdings in Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM)

ACT Advisors LLC. raised its holdings in shares of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) by 5.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,939 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the period. ACT Advisors LLC.’s holdings in Philip Morris International were worth $233,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PM. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in Philip Morris International by 24.5% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 8,701 shares of the company’s stock valued at $882,000 after acquiring an additional 1,715 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Philip Morris International by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 13,730 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,391,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Philip Morris International by 29.8% during the 2nd quarter. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC now owns 7,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $719,000 after purchasing an additional 1,631 shares during the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Philip Morris International by 11.4% during the 2nd quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 13,109 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,328,000 after purchasing an additional 1,339 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Seven Mile Advisory acquired a new stake in shares of Philip Morris International during the 2nd quarter worth about $245,000. 78.63% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Philip Morris International news, insider Werner Barth sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.98, for a total transaction of $974,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 95,418 shares in the company, valued at $12,402,431.64. The trade was a 7.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman Andre Calantzopoulos sold 101,918 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.85, for a total transaction of $13,234,052.30. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 959,761 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $124,624,965.85. The trade was a 9.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on PM. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Philip Morris International from $118.50 to $132.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $145.00 price target (up from $138.00) on shares of Philip Morris International in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Philip Morris International from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Philip Morris International from $155.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Philip Morris International from $118.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Philip Morris International currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $130.39.

Philip Morris International Price Performance

PM stock traded down $0.82 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $116.33. 1,169,405 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,800,961. The company has a market capitalization of $180.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.47, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.54. Philip Morris International Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $87.82 and a fifty-two week high of $134.15. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $126.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $120.84.

Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $9.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.68 billion. Philip Morris International had a net margin of 10.35% and a negative return on equity of 117.94%. Philip Morris International’s revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.67 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Philip Morris International Inc. will post 6.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Philip Morris International Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th will be paid a dividend of $1.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $5.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.64%. Philip Morris International’s dividend payout ratio is currently 85.71%.

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.