Cluster of Insider Selling at Overseas Seller of Marlboro Cigarettes, Plus Other Eye-Catching Insider Buying and Selling

Cluster of Selling at the Seller of Marlboro Overseas

Three well-informed and influential insiders at Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) offloaded shares last week. To start with, Chairman Louis C. Camilleri, former CEO of PMI, sold 60,000 shares on Friday at prices varying from $103.23 to $103.43 per share, cutting his ownership to 753,806 shares. Marc S. Firestone, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, unloaded 17,088 shares last Wednesday at an average price of $102.40 per share, along with an additional 2,448 shares that appear to have served as payment of tax liability. Mr. Firestone currently owns an aggregate of 177,643 shares following these transactions. Chief Executive Officer Andre Calantzopoulos offloaded 35,000 shares on the same day at an average price of $102.65 per share, as well as liquidated 3,753 shares presumably for payment of tax liability. The head of the cigarette maker currently owns a total of 752,671 shares.

The shares of the seller of Marlboro and other brands overseas have gained 14% thus far in 2017, so the spike in insider selling isn’t necessarily surprising. Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) recently reported net revenues (excluding excise taxes) of $7.0 billion for the fourth quarter, up 9.1% year-over-year. The cigarette maker reported total cigarette shipment volume of 200.6 billion units, down 4.4% year-on-year due to weakness in Europe. Philip Morris International appears to be betting on a smoke-free future, with the management being exited over the enormous promise of so-called reduced-risk products such as heat-not-burn products like HeatSticks. Andy Brown’s Cedar Rock Capital owned 11.95 million shares of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) heading into 2017.

Executives at Manufacturer of Non-Alcoholic Beverages Trim Equity Stakes

One member of Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. (NYSE:DPS)’s executive team offloaded a sizeable block of shares at the beginning of the week. James “Jim” Johnston, President of Beverage Concentrates and Latin America Beverages for Dr Pepper Snapple Group, liquidated 33,314 shares on Tuesday at prices ranging from $94.53 to $94.73 per share. Mr. Johnston currently owns a mere 7,861 shares after the Tuesday sale. A number of insiders offloaded shares during the course of the previous week as well.

The shares of the integrated brand owner, manufacturer and distributor of non-alcoholic beverages are up a little less than 2% in the past 12 months. The sale discussed above comes after Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. (NYSE:DPS) released disappointing results for the quarter that ended December. The company’s fourth-quarter net income fell to $165 million from $185 million reported in the same period of the previous year, reflecting a loss on the early extinguishment of certain debt and weakness of the Mexican peso. The management warned that the recent events affecting Mexico “have created an uncertain economic and consumer environment,” which could further impact the company’s bottom-line figure this year. Dr Pepper Snapple Group generated net sales of $6.44 billion during the entire 2016, up 3% relative to 2015 net sales. Ken Griffin’s Citadel Advisors LLC had around 538,000 shares of Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. (NYSE:DPS) in its equity portfolio at the end of the fourth quarter.

Disclosure: None