Exchange Traded Concepts LLC Buys 76,358 Shares of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM)

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its stake in shares of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) by 90.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 160,434 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 76,358 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC’s holdings in Philip Morris International were worth $19,308,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Philip Morris International by 24.5% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 8,701 shares of the company’s stock valued at $882,000 after acquiring an additional 1,715 shares in the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC boosted its holdings in Philip Morris International by 10.6% during the second quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 30,898 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,131,000 after purchasing an additional 2,955 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Philip Morris International by 29.4% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 322,043 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,571,000 after buying an additional 73,234 shares in the last quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas lifted its position in shares of Philip Morris International by 440.6% during the 2nd quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas now owns 141,681 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,357,000 after buying an additional 115,472 shares during the period. Finally, Drucker Wealth 3.0 LLC bought a new position in shares of Philip Morris International during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $4,360,000. Institutional investors own 78.63% of the company’s stock.

Philip Morris International Price Performance

PM stock opened at $126.62 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $196.86 billion, a PE ratio of 20.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $125.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $121.77. Philip Morris International Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $87.82 and a fifty-two week high of $134.15.

Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $9.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.68 billion. Philip Morris International had a negative return on equity of 117.94% and a net margin of 10.35%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.67 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Philip Morris International Inc. will post 6.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Philip Morris International Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were paid a $1.35 dividend. This represents a $5.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.26%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 26th. Philip Morris International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 85.71%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on PM. UBS Group upped their price target on Philip Morris International from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Philip Morris International from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Philip Morris International from $118.50 to $132.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Philip Morris International from $155.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Philip Morris International from $118.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.35.

About Philip Morris International

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.