State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System Boosts Stake in Philip Morris International Inc. $PM

State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System grew its stake in Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) by 1.3% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,501,347 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 19,790 shares during the quarter. Philip Morris International comprises about 0.5% of State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System’s holdings, making the stock its 27th largest position. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System’s holdings in Philip Morris International were worth $273,440,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PM. WCM Investment Management LLC raised its holdings 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 worth $2,041,223,000 after purchasing an additional 11,230,626 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Philip Morris International during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,712,994,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Philip Morris International by 26.4% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 21,840,422 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,466,730,000 after acquiring an additional 4,563,632 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Philip Morris International by 57.5% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 9,794,530 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,554,686,000 after acquiring an additional 3,575,158 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Philip Morris International by 1.6% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 142,857,055 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,018,555,000 after purchasing an additional 2,235,380 shares during the last quarter. 78.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PM has been the subject of several analyst reports. KGI Securities assumed coverage on Philip Morris International in a report on Monday, August 4th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Morgan Stanley set a $175.00 target price on Philip Morris International and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $180.00 price target on Philip Morris International in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Barclays dropped their price target on Philip Morris International from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Philip Morris International from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $189.00.

Philip Morris International Stock Performance

Shares of PM opened at $156.66 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $155.90 and a two-hundred day moving average of $166.93. Philip Morris International Inc. has a one year low of $116.12 and a one year high of $186.69. The stock has a market cap of $243.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.43.

Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 28th. The company reported $1.59 earnings per share for the quarter. Philip Morris International had a negative return on equity of 122.14% and a net margin of 9.33%.The business had revenue of $8.12 billion for the quarter. Analysts predict that Philip Morris International Inc. will post 7.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Philip Morris International Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 3rd were given a dividend of $1.47 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 3rd. This represents a $5.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.8%. This is a boost from Philip Morris International’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.35. Philip Morris International’s payout ratio is 106.52%.

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.