Ballast Inc. Purchases New Position in Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM)

Ballast Inc. bought a new position in shares of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 1,475 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $234,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Philip Morris International by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 140,621,675 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,320,878,000 after acquiring an additional 1,189,283 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Philip Morris International by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 122,584,210 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,752,926,000 after acquiring an additional 4,216,586 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Philip Morris International by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 13,630,177 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,640,392,000 after acquiring an additional 1,347,503 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Philip Morris International during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,712,994,000. Finally, Fayez Sarofim & Co grew its holdings in shares of Philip Morris International by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co now owns 10,313,383 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,241,216,000 after acquiring an additional 685,431 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.63% of the company’s stock.

Philip Morris International Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of NYSE:PM opened at $170.23 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $176.29 and a 200 day moving average of $163.71. Philip Morris International Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.62 and a 52 week high of $186.69. The company has a market capitalization of $264.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.48.

Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 22nd. The company reported $1.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.86 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $10.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.33 billion. Philip Morris International had a net margin of 9.03% and a negative return on equity of 120.86%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.59 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Philip Morris International Inc. will post 7.14 EPS for the current year.

Philip Morris International Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 27th were paid a $1.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 27th. This represents a $5.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Philip Morris International’s dividend payout ratio is 102.66%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on PM. Bank of America upped their price target on Philip Morris International from $182.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. KGI Securities started coverage on Philip Morris International in a research note on Monday, August 4th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut Philip Morris International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. UBS Group increased their price target on Philip Morris International from $170.00 to $181.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Philip Morris International from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Philip Morris International presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $186.27.

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.