Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Sells 7,861 Shares of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS reduced its holdings in shares of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 330,604 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,861 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in Philip Morris International were worth $39,788,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Contrarius Group Holdings Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Philip Morris International in the 4th quarter worth $4,475,000. Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc. grew its holdings in Philip Morris International by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 2,117 shares of the company’s stock valued at $255,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the period. Magnetar Financial LLC increased its position in Philip Morris International by 14.1% in the fourth quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 37,071 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,461,000 after buying an additional 4,592 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Philip Morris International by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Group LLC now owns 11,097 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,336,000 after buying an additional 163 shares during the period. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its position in shares of Philip Morris International by 63.1% during the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 1,168,553 shares of the company’s stock valued at $140,635,000 after buying an additional 451,991 shares in the last quarter. 78.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Philip Morris International from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Philip Morris International from $145.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Philip Morris International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on Philip Morris International in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $140.00 target price for the company. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Philip Morris International from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $144.56.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Reginaldo Dobrowolski sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.88, for a total transaction of $749,400.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 20,799 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,117,354.12. This represents a 19.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Yann Guerin sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.28, for a total value of $378,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 30,308 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,584,994.24. The trade was a 7.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 131,822 shares of company stock valued at $19,655,585. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Philip Morris International Trading Up 0.3 %

PM opened at $154.27 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $141.09 and a 200 day moving average of $130.80. Philip Morris International Inc. has a 12 month low of $87.82 and a 12 month high of $159.51. The firm has a market cap of $239.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.53.

Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.06. Philip Morris International had a negative return on equity of 120.08% and a net margin of 7.89%. On average, research analysts forecast that Philip Morris International Inc. will post 7.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Philip Morris International Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be given a dividend of $1.35 per share. This represents a $5.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.50%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. Philip Morris International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 119.73%.

Philip Morris International 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.