Meritage Portfolio Management Reduces Stock Holdings in Philip Morris International Inc. $PM

Meritage Portfolio Management trimmed its holdings in shares of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) by 7.1% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 27,934 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,137 shares during the period. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in Philip Morris International were worth $5,088,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Philip Morris International by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 140,621,675 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,320,878,000 after purchasing an additional 1,189,283 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Philip Morris International by 26.4% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 21,840,422 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,466,730,000 after purchasing an additional 4,563,632 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Philip Morris International during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,712,994,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in Philip Morris International by 57.5% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 9,794,530 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,554,686,000 after purchasing an additional 3,575,158 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Philip Morris International by 22.2% during the 1st quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,018,628 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,431,527,000 after purchasing an additional 1,635,636 shares during the last quarter. 78.63% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on PM. UBS Group dropped their price target on Philip Morris International from $177.00 to $166.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Philip Morris International in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Philip Morris International from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $195.00 price objective on shares of Philip Morris International in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Philip Morris International in a research note on Wednesday. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Philip Morris International presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $195.44.

Philip Morris International Stock Up 2.3%

Shares of PM opened at $160.51 on Friday. Philip Morris International Inc. has a 52 week low of $116.12 and a 52 week high of $186.69. The company has a market capitalization of $249.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.52, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.46. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $164.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $168.77.

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

Philip Morris International Increases Dividend

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

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.