Swiss National Bank Sells 138,400 Shares of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM)

Swiss National Bank lowered its holdings in shares of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,854,300 shares of the company’s stock after selling 138,400 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned 0.31% of Philip Morris International worth $456,693,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of PM. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Philip Morris International by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. now owns 603,442 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,772,000 after acquiring an additional 13,416 shares in the last quarter. Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Philip Morris International in the 4th quarter worth $1,251,000. Amica Mutual Insurance Co. grew its position in shares of Philip Morris International by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Amica Mutual Insurance Co. now owns 147,492 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,655,000 after buying an additional 7,726 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Philip Morris International by 69.9% during the fourth quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 50,865 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,785,000 after buying an additional 20,918 shares during the period. Finally, Chiron Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Philip Morris International by 2.0% in the third quarter. Chiron Investment Management LLC now owns 354,558 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,825,000 after acquiring an additional 6,981 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.63% of the company’s stock.

Philip Morris International Stock Performance

PM stock traded up $1.01 during trading on Thursday, reaching $97.06. The company had a trading volume of 1,370,705 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,708,456. The company has a market cap of $150.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.60. Philip Morris International Inc. has a twelve month low of $87.23 and a twelve month high of $100.70. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $92.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $92.25.

Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $8.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.44 billion. Philip Morris International had a net margin of 8.58% and a negative return on equity of 113.26%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.38 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Philip Morris International Inc. will post 6.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Philip Morris International Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 21st were paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 20th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.36%. Philip Morris International’s payout ratio is presently 101.56%.

Insider Activity

In other Philip Morris International news, insider Werner Barth sold 5,000 shares of Philip Morris International stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.46, for a total transaction of $457,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 102,918 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,412,880.28. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Philip Morris International news, insider Werner Barth sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.46, for a total transaction of $457,300.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 102,918 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,412,880.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Wilde Frederic De sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.42, for a total value of $1,928,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 178,447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,205,859.74. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 35,250 shares of company stock valued at $3,339,528. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Societe Generale upgraded shares of Philip Morris International from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $87.50 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. Argus reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Philip Morris International in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Philip Morris International from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, UBS Group downgraded Philip Morris International from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $105.00 to $86.50 in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $105.50.

About Philip Morris International

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.