Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. Trims Holdings in Philip Morris International Inc. $PM

Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. lowered its position in Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) by 43.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,195 shares of the company’s stock after selling 16,503 shares during the period. Symphony Financial Ltd. Co.’s holdings in Philip Morris International were worth $3,362,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. WCM Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Philip Morris International by 24,968.0% during 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 during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Philip Morris International by 1.6% during the 2nd 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 period. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its stake in shares of Philip Morris International by 69.0% during the 2nd quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 4,512,311 shares of the company’s stock valued at $821,826,000 after buying an additional 1,842,754 shares during the last quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Philip Morris International by 88.9% in the second quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 2,138,118 shares of the company’s stock worth $389,415,000 after buying an additional 1,006,014 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Philip Morris International by 142.2% during the second quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,512,514 shares of the company’s stock worth $275,474,000 after acquiring an additional 888,148 shares during the period. 78.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on PM shares. Wall Street Zen cut Philip Morris International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley set a $175.00 price objective on Philip Morris International and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Philip Morris International in a 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Philip Morris International from $190.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 26th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $184.56.

Philip Morris International Stock Up 1.8%

Philip Morris International stock opened at $173.06 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $159.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $161.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $269.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.35, a PEG ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.40. Philip Morris International Inc. has a 52-week low of $125.53 and a 52-week high of $186.69.

Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 24th. The company reported $2.24 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.10 by $0.14. Philip Morris International had a negative return on equity of 122.14% and a net margin of 9.33%.The company had revenue of $10.85 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.67 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.91 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Philip Morris International Inc. will post 7.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Philip Morris International Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 26th were given a dividend of $1.47 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 26th. This represents a $5.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. Philip Morris International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 106.52%.

About Philip Morris International

Philip Morris International Inc (NYSE: PM) is a global tobacco company that manufactures and sells cigarettes, other nicotine-containing products and a growing portfolio of smoke-free alternatives for adult smokers. The firm traces its corporate roots to the 19th century Philip Morris enterprise and was established as an independent, publicly traded company following a 2008 separation from what is now Altria. Since the spin-off, the company has focused on serving international markets outside the United States.

PMI’s product mix includes traditional combustible cigarettes as well as smoke-free offerings such as heated tobacco systems and other reduced-risk products.