Whipplewood Advisors LLC Invests $270,000 in Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM)

Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 2,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $270,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. White Lighthouse Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Philip Morris International by 71.4% during the third quarter. White Lighthouse Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,999 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,457,000 after buying an additional 4,999 shares during the last quarter. Range Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Philip Morris International by 504.9% during the fourth quarter. Range Financial Group LLC now owns 22,915 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,758,000 after buying an additional 19,127 shares during the last quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. increased its holdings in Philip Morris International by 3,553.3% during the third quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. now owns 206,959 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,125,000 after buying an additional 201,294 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of Philip Morris International by 18.9% in the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 100,826 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,134,000 after purchasing an additional 16,035 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWA Asset Management Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Philip Morris International by 37.5% in the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 24,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,912,000 after purchasing an additional 6,605 shares in the last quarter. 78.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on PM shares. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Philip Morris International from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com cut shares of Philip Morris International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Philip Morris International from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Philip Morris International in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $140.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $144.56.

Philip Morris International Stock Performance

PM opened at $153.95 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $239.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.14, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a fifty day moving average of $132.28 and a 200 day moving average of $127.47. Philip Morris International Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $87.82 and a fifty-two week high of $158.39.

Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.06. Philip Morris International had a net margin of 7.89% and a negative return on equity of 120.08%. On average, equities research analysts forecast 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 Monday, January 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were given a dividend of $1.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $5.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.51%. Philip Morris International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 119.73%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Philip Morris International

In other Philip Morris International news, VP Reginaldo Dobrowolski sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.88, for a total transaction of $749,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 20,799 shares in the company, valued at $3,117,354.12. This trade represents a 19.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Werner Barth sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.67, for a total transaction of $1,486,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 106,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,795,295.48. This trade represents a 8.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 128,143 shares of company stock worth $19,092,846 over the last 90 days. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.