First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. Has $7.48 Million Position in Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM)

First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. increased its position in shares of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) by 4.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 79,475 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 3,072 shares during the period. Philip Morris International comprises 1.7% of First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest holding. First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Philip Morris International were worth $7,477,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of PM. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Philip Morris International during the third quarter worth about $27,000. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners bought a new position in shares of Philip Morris International during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Legacy Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Philip Morris International during the third quarter worth about $37,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Philip Morris International during the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Philip Morris International by 158.0% during the fourth quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 454 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 278 shares in the last quarter. 78.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on PM shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Philip Morris International from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Societe Generale upgraded Philip Morris International from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $87.50 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. UBS Group downgraded Philip Morris International from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $105.00 to $86.50 in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. Finally, Argus restated a “hold” rating on shares of Philip Morris International in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Philip Morris International presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $105.50.

Philip Morris International Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE PM opened at $94.97 on Friday. Philip Morris International Inc. has a 12 month low of $87.23 and a 12 month high of $100.79. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $91.90 and a 200-day moving average of $92.20. The company has a market capitalization of $147.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.61.

Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $8.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.44 billion. Philip Morris International had a negative return on equity of 113.26% and a net margin of 9.83%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.38 EPS. Analysts predict that Philip Morris International Inc. will post 6.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Philip Morris International Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 21st were issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 20th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.48%. Philip Morris International’s payout ratio is currently 101.56%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Wilde Frederic De sold 20,000 shares of Philip Morris International stock in a transaction that occurred 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 approximately $17,205,859.74. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Philip Morris International news, insider Werner Barth sold 5,000 shares of Philip Morris International stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.46, for a total value of $457,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 102,918 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,412,880.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Wilde Frederic De sold 20,000 shares of Philip Morris International stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.42, for a total value of $1,928,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 178,447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,205,859.74. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 35,250 shares of company stock valued at $3,339,528. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

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.