Victory Capital Management Inc. Sells 856,415 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Victory Capital Management Inc. lowered its holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 19.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,486,672 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 856,415 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned approximately 0.06% of Pfizer worth $100,904,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Addison Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Pfizer by 394.2% in the 3rd quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 52,238 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,512,000 after acquiring an additional 41,668 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Pfizer by 4.3% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 13,118,764 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $379,657,000 after purchasing an additional 544,418 shares during the period. LGT Group Foundation raised its stake in Pfizer by 2.5% in the second quarter. LGT Group Foundation now owns 742,875 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $20,786,000 after purchasing an additional 18,274 shares in the last quarter. Radnor Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Pfizer during the third quarter worth about $2,972,000. Finally, Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS lifted its position in Pfizer by 2.4% during the third quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 1,168,315 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $33,811,000 after purchasing an additional 27,562 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Pfizer

In other news, Director Scott Gottlieb purchased 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $28.24 per share, for a total transaction of $28,240.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $282,400. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Pfizer Trading Up 2.0 %

PFE opened at $26.72 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.73. Pfizer Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $25.20 and a fifty-two week high of $31.54. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $28.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $151.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.11, a PEG ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.67.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.42. The business had revenue of $17.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.92 billion. Pfizer had a return on equity of 16.28% and a net margin of 7.07%. Pfizer’s quarterly revenue was up 31.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.17) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Pfizer Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th will be paid a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio is currently 227.03%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on PFE. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Pfizer from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group raised their target price on Pfizer from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Citigroup started coverage on Pfizer in a report on Friday, October 25th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $30.00 price target for the company. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Pfizer from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $33.58.

Pfizer Company Profile

Pfizer Inc discovers, develops, manufactures, markets, distributes, and sells biopharmaceutical products in the United States, Europe, and internationally. The company offers medicines and vaccines in various therapeutic areas, including cardiovascular metabolic, migraine, and women's health under the Eliquis, Nurtec ODT/Vydura, Zavzpret, and the Premarin family brands; infectious diseases with unmet medical needs under the Prevnar family, Abrysvo, Nimenrix, FSME/IMMUN-TicoVac, and Trumenba brands; and COVID-19 prevention and treatment, and potential future mRNA and antiviral products under the Comirnaty and Paxlovid brands.