Bank of Montreal Can Increases Holdings in Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM)

Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position in Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) by 44.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,170,549 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 969,198 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in Philip Morris International were worth $382,432,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of PM. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in Philip Morris International by 57.2% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,241,612 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,121,932,000 after purchasing an additional 3,363,454 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Philip Morris International by 16.3% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 13,234,478 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,341,050,000 after acquiring an additional 1,856,551 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Philip Morris International during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $155,373,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Philip Morris International by 14,611.4% during the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,173,531 shares of the company’s stock valued at $142,467,000 after purchasing an additional 1,165,554 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates lifted its stake in shares of Philip Morris International by 52.0% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 3,296,626 shares of the company’s stock valued at $334,047,000 after purchasing an additional 1,127,286 shares during the period. 78.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on PM. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $145.00 target price (up from $138.00) on shares of Philip Morris International in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Philip Morris International from $125.00 to $139.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Philip Morris International from $118.50 to $132.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped 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, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Philip Morris International from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.50.

Philip Morris International Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of Philip Morris International stock traded down $0.26 on Monday, hitting $129.73. 567,824 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,372,304. Philip Morris International Inc. has a 1-year low of $87.82 and a 1-year high of $134.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $201.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $124.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $114.85.

Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 in the previous year, the company posted $1.67 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Philip Morris International Inc. will post 6.51 EPS for the current year.

Philip Morris International Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 26th were given a dividend of $1.35 per share. This is a boost from Philip Morris International’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.30. This represents a $5.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 26th. Philip Morris International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 85.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Werner Barth sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.98, for a total value of $974,850.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 95,418 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,402,431.64. The trade was a 7.29 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Chairman Andre Calantzopoulos sold 101,918 shares of Philip Morris International stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.85, for a total transaction of $13,234,052.30. Following the sale, the chairman now 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 owned by insiders.

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.