Blankinship & Foster LLC Purchases New Stake in Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM)

Blankinship & Foster LLC purchased a new stake in Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 1,993 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $240,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. NewSquare Capital LLC grew its holdings in Philip Morris International by 53.7% during the fourth quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 206 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV grew its stake in shares of Philip Morris International by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV now owns 2,510 shares of the company’s stock worth $302,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Intergy Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in Philip Morris International by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Intergy Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,959 shares of the company’s stock worth $236,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. BKM Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Philip Morris International by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,479 shares of the company’s stock worth $298,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the period. Finally, Detalus Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Philip Morris International by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Detalus Advisors LLC now owns 3,231 shares of the company’s stock valued at $389,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the period. 78.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Philip Morris International Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of PM stock opened at $151.05 on Friday. Philip Morris International Inc. has a twelve month low of $87.82 and a twelve month high of $159.51. The company has a market cap of $234.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.53. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $136.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $129.00.

Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.06. Philip Morris International had a negative return on equity of 120.08% and a net margin of 7.89%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Philip Morris International Inc. will post 7.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Philip Morris International Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th will be paid a dividend of $1.35 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $5.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.57%. Philip Morris International’s dividend payout ratio is currently 119.73%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Andre Calantzopoulos sold 40,643 shares of Philip Morris International stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.06, for a total transaction of $6,058,245.58. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 561,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $83,674,681.94. The trade was a 6.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Reginaldo Dobrowolski sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.88, for a total value of $749,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 20,799 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,117,354.12. This represents a 19.38 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 131,822 shares of company stock worth $19,655,585 over the last quarter. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays raised their target price on Philip Morris International from $145.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. StockNews.com cut Philip Morris International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Philip Morris International from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Philip Morris International from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Philip Morris International from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $144.56.

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.