Farmers Trust Co. Reduces Stock Position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Farmers Trust Co. reduced its holdings in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 1.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 226,048 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 2,744 shares during the quarter. Pfizer makes up 1.1% of Farmers Trust Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Farmers Trust Co.’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $5,997,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 16,819,712 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $486,762,000 after buying an additional 100,900 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 11.0% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 130,143,942 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,766,366,000 after purchasing an additional 12,864,343 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of Pfizer by 80.9% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 508,256 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $14,709,000 after purchasing an additional 227,349 shares in the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 41,668 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its stake in Pfizer by 26.0% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,105,433 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $89,872,000 after buying an additional 639,985 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Scott Gottlieb acquired 1,000 shares of Pfizer stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $28.24 per share, with a total value of $28,240.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $282,400. This represents a 11.11 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Pfizer Price Performance

NYSE PFE traded down $0.17 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $26.96. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 23,718,356 shares, compared to its average volume of 33,519,582. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.00. The stock has a market cap of $152.78 billion, a PE ratio of 36.43, a PEG ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.64. The company’s 50-day moving average is $26.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $28.07. Pfizer Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.48 and a fifty-two week high of $31.54.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.42. The firm 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 31.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.17) EPS. Analysts forecast that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 EPS for the current year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, January 24th will be paid a $0.43 dividend. This is an increase from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 24th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.38%. Pfizer’s payout ratio is presently 232.43%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PFE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $29.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Guggenheim dropped their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Wolfe Research started coverage on Pfizer in a report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $25.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Pfizer from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of Pfizer in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Pfizer presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $32.00.

About Pfizer

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.