Philip Morris International Inc. $PM Stock Sold by First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc.

First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 67,365 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,577 shares during the quarter. Philip Morris International comprises approximately 2.5% of First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest position. First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Philip Morris International were worth $12,855,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in Philip Morris International by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 108,039,522 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,545,430,000 after buying an additional 444,449 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Philip Morris International by 1.0% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 55,569,994 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,134,454,000 after buying an additional 536,968 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Philip Morris International during the second quarter worth approximately $8,220,008,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Philip Morris International by 3.9% during the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 17,506,171 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,167,041,000 after buying an additional 650,587 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in shares of Philip Morris International in the second quarter valued at approximately $3,075,267,000. Institutional investors own 78.63% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on PM shares. Barclays increased their price objective on Philip Morris International from $205.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Philip Morris International from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Philip Morris International from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. BTIG Research set a $221.00 price target on shares of Philip Morris International and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Philip Morris International from $193.00 to $201.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Philip Morris International currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.70.

Philip Morris International Price Performance

PM opened at $202.63 on Thursday. Philip Morris International Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.11 and a fifty-two week high of $210.45. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $193.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $181.48. The company has a market capitalization of $315.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.34.

Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 21st. The company reported $2.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.06. Philip Morris International had a net margin of 10.73% and a negative return on equity of 183.96%. The firm had revenue of $11.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.32 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.24 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Philip Morris International Inc. will post 8.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Philip Morris International Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 2nd were given a dividend of $1.60 per share. This is an increase from Philip Morris International’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.47. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 2nd. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Philip Morris International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 93.43%.

Philip Morris International Company Profile

Philip Morris International Inc (NYSE:PM) is a global tobacco and nicotine company headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut. It was established as an independent company in 2008 following the separation of Philip Morris International from Altria Group. The company develops, manufactures and markets tobacco, nicotine and other related consumer products primarily outside the United States.

Its portfolio includes internationally recognized cigarette brands such as Marlboro, Parliament, L&M, Chesterfield and Bond Street.