VestGen Advisors LLC Sells 4,032 Shares of Philip Morris International Inc. $PM

VestGen Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) by 15.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,494 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,032 shares during the period. VestGen Advisors LLC’s holdings in Philip Morris International were worth $4,292,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of PM. Platt Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Philip Morris International by 2.1% during the second quarter. Platt Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,833 shares of the company’s stock valued at $512,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Clearwater Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Philip Morris International by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Clearwater Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,798 shares of the company’s stock worth $463,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL lifted its stake in Philip Morris International by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 9,887 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,635,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Essential Partners LLC boosted its position in Philip Morris International by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Essential Partners LLC now owns 1,742 shares of the company’s stock worth $288,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the period. Finally, JFS Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Philip Morris International by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,455 shares of the company’s stock worth $806,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.63% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. BTIG Research set a $221.00 target price on Philip Morris International and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. UBS Group increased 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. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Philip Morris International from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Citigroup upped their target price on Philip Morris International from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Philip Morris International from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Philip Morris International presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.70.

Philip Morris International Stock Performance

NYSE PM opened at $208.66 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $193.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $181.71. Philip Morris International Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.11 and a twelve month high of $210.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $325.23 billion, a PE ratio of 30.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.34.

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

Philip Morris International Increases Dividend

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