Seven Eight Capital LP Acquires 4,768 Shares of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM)

Seven Eight Capital LP raised its position in shares of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) by 120.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 8,719 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 4,768 shares during the quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP’s holdings in Philip Morris International were worth $799,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of PM. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in shares of Philip Morris International by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 58,416,175 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,495,794,000 after buying an additional 4,869,272 shares in the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Philip Morris International during the fourth quarter worth about $282,785,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Philip Morris International by 25.5% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 10,439,154 shares of the company’s stock worth $996,104,000 after purchasing an additional 2,123,311 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of Philip Morris International by 5,045.1% during the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,122,729 shares of the company’s stock worth $194,484,000 after buying an additional 2,081,472 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in shares of Philip Morris International by 294.1% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,367,002 shares of the company’s stock worth $216,865,000 after buying an additional 1,766,383 shares during the period. 78.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on PM. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Philip Morris International from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com upgraded Philip Morris International from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $104.22.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Wilde Frederic De sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.42, for a total transaction of $1,928,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 178,447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,205,859.74. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Philip Morris International Stock Up 2.2 %

PM stock traded up $2.35 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $109.57. 7,555,857 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,354,671. Philip Morris International Inc. has a 1-year low of $87.23 and a 1-year high of $111.36. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $102.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $96.08. The firm has a market cap of $170.33 billion, a PE ratio of 20.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.58.

Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $8.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.44 billion. Philip Morris International had a negative return on equity of 113.26% and a net margin of 8.58%. The company’s revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.38 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Philip Morris International Inc. will post 6.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Philip Morris International Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 21st were issued a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 21st. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.75%. Philip Morris International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 101.56%.

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.