Ashton Thomas Securities LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM)

Ashton Thomas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM - Free Report) by 25.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,215 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 2,094 shares during the quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC's holdings in Philip Morris International were worth $1,230,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. GQG Partners LLC grew its stake in Philip Morris International by 14.3% in the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 48,746,809 shares of the company's stock worth $5,866,678,000 after acquiring an additional 6,092,558 shares in the last quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Philip Morris International by 17.3% in the fourth quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,231 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,074,000 after purchasing an additional 2,537 shares during the period. EntryPoint Capital LLC grew its stake in Philip Morris International by 14.4% in the fourth quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 2,998 shares of the company's stock worth $361,000 after purchasing an additional 377 shares in the last quarter. Taikang Asset Management Hong Kong Co Ltd increased its holdings in Philip Morris International by 134.1% during the 4th quarter. Taikang Asset Management Hong Kong Co Ltd now owns 90,600 shares of the company's stock worth $10,904,000 after purchasing an additional 51,900 shares during the period. Finally, CoreFirst Bank & Trust bought a new stake in Philip Morris International during the 4th quarter valued at $628,000. Institutional investors own 78.63% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on PM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Philip Morris International from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Philip Morris International from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com cut shares of Philip Morris International from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Philip Morris International from $145.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, UBS Group boosted 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $144.56.

Philip Morris International Price Performance

Philip Morris International stock traded up $0.16 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $155.17. 4,333,126 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,471,068. The company has a market capitalization of $241.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.53. Philip Morris International Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $87.82 and a fifty-two week high of $159.51. The firm's fifty day moving average is $145.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $132.14.

Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.06. Philip Morris International had a negative return on equity of 120.08% and a net margin of 7.89%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Philip Morris International Inc. will post 7.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Philip Morris International Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th will be issued a dividend of $1.35 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $5.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.48%. Philip Morris International's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 119.73%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Philip Morris International news, Chairman Andre Calantzopoulos sold 40,643 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.06, for a total value of $6,058,245.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 561,349 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $83,674,681.94. The trade was a 6.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Werner Barth sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 106,244 shares in the company, valued at $15,795,295.48. The trade was a 8.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 131,822 shares of company stock valued at $19,655,585 over the last 90 days. 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.