Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Acquires 27,718 Shares of Philip Morris International Inc. $PM

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its stake in shares of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) by 8.5% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 354,466 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 27,718 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in Philip Morris International were worth $57,494,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. WCM Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Philip Morris International by 24,968.0% in the second quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 11,275,606 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,041,223,000 after purchasing an additional 11,230,626 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Philip Morris International by 1.6% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 142,857,055 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,018,555,000 after buying an additional 2,235,380 shares during the period. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its position in shares of Philip Morris International by 69.0% during the 2nd quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 4,512,311 shares of the company’s stock valued at $821,826,000 after buying an additional 1,842,754 shares during the last quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Philip Morris International by 88.9% during the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 2,138,118 shares of the company’s stock valued at $389,415,000 after buying an additional 1,006,014 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Philip Morris International by 142.2% during the 2nd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,512,514 shares of the company’s stock worth $275,474,000 after acquiring an additional 888,148 shares during the period. 78.63% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Philip Morris International Stock Up 2.4%

Philip Morris International stock opened at $162.61 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $253.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.46, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.40. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $155.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $162.29. Philip Morris International Inc. has a 52 week low of $116.12 and a 52 week high of $186.69.

Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 28th. The company reported $1.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Philip Morris International had a negative return on equity of 122.14% and a net margin of 9.33%.The firm had revenue of $8.12 billion during the quarter. On average, research analysts anticipate that Philip Morris International Inc. will post 7.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Philip Morris International Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 26th will be paid a $1.47 dividend. This represents a $5.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 26th. Philip Morris International’s payout ratio is currently 106.52%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on PM shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Philip Morris International in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Philip Morris International from $190.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Philip Morris International in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Wall Street Zen lowered Philip Morris International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $180.00 price objective on Philip Morris International in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $189.00.

Philip Morris International Profile

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.