Empirical Finance LLC Has $6.36 Million Stock Position in Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM)

Empirical Finance LLC lowered its stake in shares of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 52,828 shares of the company’s stock after selling 700 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Philip Morris International were worth $6,358,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Philip Morris International by 0.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 54,711,621 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,715,237,000 after purchasing an additional 224,840 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Philip Morris International by 2.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 32,101,324 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,886,818,000 after purchasing an additional 621,034 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Philip Morris International by 40.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,168,446 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,812,649,000 after purchasing an additional 6,721,094 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Philip Morris International by 3.0% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 13,000,570 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,560,752,000 after purchasing an additional 376,406 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of Philip Morris International by 57.2% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,241,612 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,121,932,000 after purchasing an additional 3,363,454 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.63% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PM has been the subject of several recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Philip Morris International from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Philip Morris International from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Philip Morris International in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $140.00 target price for the company. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Philip Morris International from $155.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Philip Morris International from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Philip Morris International currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $134.35.

Philip Morris International Stock Down 0.6 %

Philip Morris International stock opened at $144.40 on Friday. Philip Morris International Inc. has a twelve month low of $87.82 and a twelve month high of $146.78. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $125.66 and a 200-day moving average price of $123.87. The company has a market capitalization of $224.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.55.

Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.06. Philip Morris International had a net margin of 9.24% and a negative return on equity of 120.08%. Equities analysts expect that Philip Morris International Inc. will post 7.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Philip Morris International Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th were paid a dividend of $1.35 per share. This represents a $5.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.74%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 26th. Philip Morris International’s payout ratio is currently 119.73%.

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.