Benjamin Edwards Inc. Buys 617 Shares of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its stake in Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) by 9.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 7,079 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 617 shares during the quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in Philip Morris International were worth $666,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in PM. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Philip Morris International during the third quarter valued at $240,000. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Philip Morris International by 8.2% during the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 551,255 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,035,000 after acquiring an additional 41,950 shares during the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. raised its stake in shares of Philip Morris International by 12.8% during the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 27,060 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,505,000 after acquiring an additional 3,075 shares during the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Philip Morris International by 114.7% during the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,541 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,069,000 after buying an additional 6,166 shares during the period. Finally, Stonegate Investment Group LLC increased its position in shares of Philip Morris International by 2.3% during the third quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 13,451 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,245,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.63% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Philip Morris International

In other Philip Morris International news, insider Wilde Frederic De sold 20,000 shares of Philip Morris International 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 sale, the insider now owns 178,447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,205,859.74. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Philip Morris International news, insider Wilde Frederic De sold 20,000 shares of Philip Morris International 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 sale, the insider now owns 178,447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,205,859.74. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Massimo Andolina sold 8,250 shares of Philip Morris International stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.63, for a total transaction of $772,447.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 94,629 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,860,113.27. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 35,250 shares of company stock valued at $3,339,528 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Philip Morris International Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of PM traded up $0.09 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $97.40. 4,890,291 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,759,192. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $92.36 and a 200 day simple moving average of $92.28. Philip Morris International Inc. has a 52 week low of $87.23 and a 52 week high of $100.70. The company has a market cap of $151.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.02, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.60.

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

Philip Morris International Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 21st were given a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 20th. Philip Morris International’s payout ratio is currently 101.56%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on PM shares. UBS Group cut shares of Philip Morris International from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $105.00 to $86.50 in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Philip Morris International from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Argus restated a “hold” rating on shares of Philip Morris International in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, Societe Generale upgraded shares of Philip Morris International from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $87.50 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $105.50.

Philip Morris International Company Profile

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.