Rather & Kittrell Inc. Buys 3,019 Shares of Philip Morris International Inc. $PM

Rather & Kittrell Inc. increased its stake in shares of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) by 274.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,119 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,019 shares during the quarter. Rather & Kittrell Inc.’s holdings in Philip Morris International were worth $668,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PM. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Philip Morris International by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 142,857,055 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,018,555,000 after acquiring an additional 2,235,380 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Philip Morris International by 1.6% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 55,831,655 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,243,429,000 after purchasing an additional 871,165 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Philip Morris International by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 37,181,107 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,760,346,000 after purchasing an additional 672,983 shares during the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Philip Morris International by 24,968.0% during the 2nd quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 11,275,606 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,041,223,000 after buying an additional 11,230,626 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fayez Sarofim & Co increased its position in Philip Morris International by 7.9% during the 2nd quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co now owns 10,676,908 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,944,585,000 after buying an additional 782,536 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.63% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on PM. Morgan Stanley set a $175.00 price target on Philip Morris International and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Philip Morris International in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Philip Morris International in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Philip Morris International from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Philip Morris International from $190.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 26th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $189.00.

Philip Morris International Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSE PM opened at $173.66 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $270.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.40. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $157.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $161.87. Philip Morris International Inc. has a 52-week low of $119.30 and a 52-week high of $186.69.

Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 24th. The company reported $2.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.10 by $0.14. Philip Morris International had a net margin of 9.33% and a negative return on equity of 122.14%. The firm had revenue of $10.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.67 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.91 EPS. Philip Morris International’s quarterly revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Philip Morris International Inc. will post 7.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Philip Morris International Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 14th. Investors of record on Friday, December 26th were paid a $1.47 dividend. This represents a $5.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 26th. Philip Morris International’s dividend payout ratio is currently 106.52%.

About Philip Morris International

Philip Morris International Inc (NYSE: PM) is a global tobacco company that manufactures and sells cigarettes, other nicotine-containing products and a growing portfolio of smoke-free alternatives for adult smokers. The firm traces its corporate roots to the 19th century Philip Morris enterprise and was established as an independent, publicly traded company following a 2008 separation from what is now Altria. Since the spin-off, the company has focused on serving international markets outside the United States.

PMI’s product mix includes traditional combustible cigarettes as well as smoke-free offerings such as heated tobacco systems and other reduced-risk products.