Lockerman Financial Group Inc. Decreases Stake in Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM)

Lockerman Financial Group Inc. decreased its holdings in Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) by 5.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,852 shares of the company’s stock after selling 163 shares during the quarter. Lockerman Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Philip Morris International were worth $268,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Philip Morris International by 100,700.1% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 15,640,144 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,582,939,000 after acquiring an additional 15,624,628 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Philip Morris International by 33.5% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,147,790 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,587,542,000 after purchasing an additional 4,304,089 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Philip Morris International by 12.6% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 27,821,802 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,575,742,000 after purchasing an additional 3,121,732 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in Philip Morris International by 1,034.0% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 3,203,649 shares of the company’s stock valued at $292,808,000 after purchasing an additional 2,921,136 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its holdings in Philip Morris International by 3.1% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 58,592,611 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,793,812,000 after purchasing an additional 1,745,868 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.63% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PM has been the topic of several recent research reports. Societe Generale upgraded shares of Philip Morris International from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $87.50 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. Argus restated a “hold” rating on shares of Philip Morris International in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, UBS Group lowered shares of Philip Morris International from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $105.00 to $86.50 in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $105.40.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Massimo Andolina sold 8,250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.63, for a total transaction of $772,447.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 94,629 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,860,113.27. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, insider Werner Barth sold 5,000 shares of Philip Morris International stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.46, for a total value of $457,300.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 102,918 shares in the company, valued at $9,412,880.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Massimo Andolina sold 8,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.63, for a total value of $772,447.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 94,629 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,860,113.27. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 15,250 shares of company stock worth $1,411,128. 0.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Philip Morris International Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PM opened at $91.59 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $91.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $92.47. The company has a market cap of $142.19 billion, a PE ratio of 18.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.61. Philip Morris International Inc. has a 12 month low of $87.23 and a 12 month high of $101.92.

Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The company reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $9.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.99 billion. Philip Morris International had a negative return on equity of 116.29% and a net margin of 8.53%. The firm’s revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.39 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Philip Morris International Inc. will post 6.39 EPS for the current year.

Philip Morris International Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 21st will be paid a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 20th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.68%. Philip Morris International’s payout ratio is currently 103.59%.

Philip Morris International 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.