Avestar Capital LLC Sells 56,155 Shares of Philip Morris International Inc. $PM

Avestar Capital LLC reduced its stake in shares of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM - Free Report) by 71.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,014 shares of the company's stock after selling 56,155 shares during the period. Avestar Capital LLC's holdings in Philip Morris International were worth $4,201,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of Philip Morris International by 30.9% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 11,669,878 shares of the company's stock worth $2,111,198,000 after buying an additional 2,755,662 shares in the last quarter. Teamwork Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Philip Morris International by 2,662.6% in the 2nd quarter. Teamwork Financial Advisors LLC now owns 65,695 shares of the company's stock valued at $11,885,000 after buying an additional 63,317 shares in the last quarter. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Philip Morris International in the 2nd quarter worth about $505,000. Orographic Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Philip Morris International in the 1st quarter valued at $1,205,000. Finally, Addison Capital Co boosted its holdings in Philip Morris International by 32.5% in the first quarter. Addison Capital Co now owns 31,779 shares of the company's stock worth $5,254,000 after purchasing an additional 7,793 shares during the period. 78.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Philip Morris International from $205.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Philip Morris International from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b+)" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. Argus lifted their price objective on Philip Morris International from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, October 26th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Philip Morris International from $193.00 to $201.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on Philip Morris International from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Philip Morris International presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $209.70.

Philip Morris International Trading Up 0.1%

PM stock opened at $208.72 on Friday. Philip Morris International Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.11 and a 1-year high of $214.35. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $194.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $181.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $325.32 billion, a PE ratio of 25.36, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.34.

Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 21st. The company reported $2.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $11.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.32 billion. Philip Morris International had a negative return on equity of 183.96% and a net margin of 10.73%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.24 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Philip Morris International Inc. will post 8.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Philip Morris International Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 26th. Investors of record on Friday, October 2nd were given a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 2nd. This is a positive change from Philip Morris International's previous quarterly dividend of $1.47. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. Philip Morris International's payout ratio is presently 93.43%.

About Philip Morris International

Philip Morris International Inc NYSE: PM is a global tobacco and nicotine company headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut. It was established as an independent company in 2008 following the separation of Philip Morris International from Altria Group. The company develops, manufactures and markets tobacco, nicotine and other related consumer products primarily outside the United States.

Its portfolio includes internationally recognized cigarette brands such as Marlboro, Parliament, L&M, Chesterfield and Bond Street.

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