First Financial Bank Trust Division Sells 623 Shares of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM)

First Financial Bank Trust Division decreased its position in Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) by 20.4% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,429 shares of the company’s stock after selling 623 shares during the period. First Financial Bank Trust Division’s holdings in Philip Morris International were worth $246,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in PM. Advisory Alpha LLC purchased a new stake in Philip Morris International in the fourth quarter worth $232,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Philip Morris International by 8,511.5% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 672,296 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,250,000 after buying an additional 664,489 shares during the period. Jacobsen Capital Management lifted its position in Philip Morris International by 14.8% during the fourth quarter. Jacobsen Capital Management now owns 2,519 shares of the company’s stock valued at $237,000 after buying an additional 324 shares during the period. Fulton Bank N.A. lifted its position in Philip Morris International by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 46,340 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,360,000 after buying an additional 596 shares during the period. Finally, Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Philip Morris International by 45.7% during the fourth quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 16,738 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,575,000 after buying an additional 5,248 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.63% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Philip Morris International

In other news, insider Wilde Frederic De sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.01, for a total transaction of $2,260,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 158,447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,906,095.47. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on PM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Philip Morris International from $110.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Philip Morris International from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Philip Morris International from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. StockNews.com raised Philip Morris International from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on Philip Morris International from $110.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $107.80.

Philip Morris International Price Performance

NYSE PM traded down $4.26 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $113.56. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 10,875,096 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,437,899. Philip Morris International Inc. has a 12 month low of $87.23 and a 12 month high of $119.06. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $104.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $97.29. The company has a market cap of $176.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.58.

Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The company reported $1.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.02. Philip Morris International had a negative return on equity of 113.32% and a net margin of 9.41%. The company had revenue of $9.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.19 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.60 EPS. Philip Morris International’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Philip Morris International Inc. will post 6.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Philip Morris International Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 8th. Investors of record on Friday, June 21st were issued a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 21st. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.58%. Philip Morris International’s payout ratio is 101.56%.

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.