Hilltop Holdings Inc. Has $6.55 Million Position in Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM)

Hilltop Holdings Inc. grew its stake in Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) by 99.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 53,951 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 26,891 shares during the period. Hilltop Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Philip Morris International were worth $6,550,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mather Group LLC. boosted its position in Philip Morris International by 31.2% during the second quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 13,088 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,326,000 after acquiring an additional 3,109 shares during the last quarter. Lynx Investment Advisory acquired a new position in shares of Philip Morris International in the 2nd quarter valued at about $45,000. Olistico Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Philip Morris International during the 2nd quarter valued at about $34,000. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Philip Morris International by 35.8% during the second quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,521 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,370,000 after purchasing an additional 3,564 shares during the period. Finally, Apella Capital LLC bought a new stake in Philip Morris International in the second quarter worth approximately $263,000. 78.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on PM. Barclays increased their price target on Philip Morris International from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Philip Morris International from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Philip Morris International from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Philip Morris International from $118.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Philip Morris International from $126.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Philip Morris International has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.50.

Philip Morris International Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PM opened at $130.99 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $203.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.79, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.53. Philip Morris International Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $87.82 and a fifty-two week high of $134.15. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $125.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $115.99.

Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.09. Philip Morris International had a negative return on equity of 117.94% and a net margin of 10.35%. The company had revenue of $9.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.68 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.67 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Philip Morris International Inc. will post 6.51 EPS for the current year.

Philip Morris International Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 26th were paid a $1.35 dividend. This is a positive change from Philip Morris International’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.30. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 26th. This represents a $5.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.12%. Philip Morris International’s dividend payout ratio is presently 85.71%.

Insider Activity

In other Philip Morris International news, insider Werner Barth sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.98, for a total value of $974,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 95,418 shares in the company, valued at $12,402,431.64. This represents a 7.29 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Andre Calantzopoulos sold 101,918 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.85, for a total value of $13,234,052.30. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 959,761 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $124,624,965.85. This represents a 9.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.