Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM) Lifted to Buy at StockNews.com

Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM) was upgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Monday.

Separately, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target 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 analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $104.22.

Philip Morris International Stock Performance

PM traded up $0.10 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $107.22. The company had a trading volume of 5,592,921 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,338,851. The stock has a market cap of $166.68 billion, a PE ratio of 20.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.58. Philip Morris International has a 12-month low of $87.23 and a 12-month high of $109.18. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $102.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $96.08.

Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $8.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.44 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.38 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Philip Morris International will post 6.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Philip Morris International news, insider Wilde Frederic De sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 178,447 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,205,859.74. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Philip Morris International

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PM. GQG Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Philip Morris International by 5,006.0% during the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 5,958,391 shares of the company’s stock valued at $545,908,000 after acquiring an additional 5,841,696 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in Philip Morris International by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 58,416,175 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,495,794,000 after buying an additional 4,869,272 shares during the period. Lone Pine Capital LLC bought a new position in Philip Morris International in the 4th quarter worth $282,785,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Philip Morris International by 25.5% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 10,439,154 shares of the company’s stock worth $996,104,000 after buying an additional 2,123,311 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Philip Morris International by 5,045.1% in the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,122,729 shares of the company’s stock worth $194,484,000 after buying an additional 2,081,472 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.63% 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.