Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Sells 18,833 Shares of Philip Morris International Inc. $PM

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lowered its stake in Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) by 0.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,995,029 shares of the company’s stock after selling 18,833 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Philip Morris International were worth $571,511,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PM. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Philip Morris International by 30.9% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 11,669,878 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,111,198,000 after purchasing an additional 2,755,662 shares during the last quarter. Teamwork Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Philip Morris International by 2,662.6% during the second quarter. Teamwork Financial Advisors LLC now owns 65,695 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,885,000 after purchasing an additional 63,317 shares during the last quarter. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Philip Morris International during the second quarter valued at approximately $505,000. Orographic Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Philip Morris International in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,205,000. Finally, Addison Capital Co raised its position in shares of Philip Morris International by 32.5% in the first quarter. Addison Capital Co now owns 31,779 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,254,000 after purchasing an additional 7,793 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.63% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on PM. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Philip Morris International from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Philip Morris International from $193.00 to $201.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Philip Morris International from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of Philip Morris International from $215.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Philip Morris International from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Philip Morris International presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.70.

Philip Morris International Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE PM opened at $208.72 on Friday. Philip Morris International Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.11 and a 12 month high of $214.35. The company has a market cap of $325.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.34. The business’s 50 day moving average is $194.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $181.93.

Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 21st. The company reported $2.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $11.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.32 billion. Philip Morris International had a negative return on equity of 183.96% and a net margin of 10.73%. Philip Morris International’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.24 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Philip Morris International Inc. will post 8.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Philip Morris International Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 2nd were given a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 2nd. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. This is a positive change from Philip Morris International’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.47. Philip Morris International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 93.43%.

About Philip Morris International

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.