RFG Advisory LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Philip Morris International Inc. $PM

RFG Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 23,942 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 352 shares during the period. RFG Advisory LLC’s holdings in Philip Morris International were worth $4,361,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Philip Morris International in the first quarter worth approximately $1,712,994,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Philip Morris International by 26.4% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 21,840,422 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,466,730,000 after buying an additional 4,563,632 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Philip Morris International by 57.5% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 9,794,530 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,554,686,000 after buying an additional 3,575,158 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Philip Morris International by 22.2% in the first quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,018,628 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,431,527,000 after buying an additional 1,635,636 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Philip Morris International by 111.1% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,002,216 shares of the company’s stock worth $473,660,000 after buying an additional 1,580,368 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.63% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Philip Morris International in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Philip Morris International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $195.00 price objective on shares of Philip Morris International in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Barclays lowered their price objective on Philip Morris International from $225.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Philip Morris International in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $220.00 price objective for the company. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Philip Morris International currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $195.44.

Philip Morris International Trading Down 0.2%

PM opened at $159.08 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $164.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $168.83. The company has a market cap of $247.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.46. Philip Morris International Inc. has a 12-month low of $116.12 and a 12-month high of $186.69.

Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, March 28th. The company reported $1.59 EPS for the quarter. Philip Morris International had a negative return on equity of 120.86% and a net margin of 9.03%.The firm had revenue of $8.12 billion for the quarter. On average, analysts predict that Philip Morris International Inc. will post 7.14 EPS for the current year.

Philip Morris International Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 20th. Investors of record on Friday, October 3rd will be given a dividend of $1.47 per share. This represents a $5.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.7%. This is a boost from Philip Morris International’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.35. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 3rd. Philip Morris International’s payout ratio is 111.79%.

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.