Philip Morris International Inc. (PM) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $1.35 on April 10th

Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, March 6th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th will be given a dividend of 1.35 per share on Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.57%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th.

Philip Morris International has raised its dividend by an average of 2.7% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 17 consecutive years. Philip Morris International has a dividend payout ratio of 69.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Philip Morris International to earn $7.90 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $5.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 68.4%.

Philip Morris International Trading Down 1.6 %

PM stock opened at $151.05 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $234.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.53. Philip Morris International has a 12-month low of $87.82 and a 12-month high of $159.51. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $136.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $129.00.

Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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%. On average, research analysts forecast that Philip Morris International will post 7.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on PM. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Philip Morris International from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Philip Morris International from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com downgraded Philip Morris International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Barclays upped their price objective on Philip Morris International from $145.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on Philip Morris International in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $140.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $144.56.

Insider Transactions at Philip Morris International

In related news, Chairman Andre Calantzopoulos sold 40,643 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.06, for a total transaction of $6,058,245.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 561,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $83,674,681.94. This trade represents a 6.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Lars Dahlgren sold 3,679 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.96, for a total value of $562,739.84. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 26,828 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,103,610.88. This represents a 12.06 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 131,822 shares of company stock valued at $19,655,585. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

An institutional investor recently raised its position in Philip Morris International stock. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in shares of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) by 31.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,531 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,023 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Philip Morris International were worth $1,027,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Institutional investors own 78.63% 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.