Folger Nolan Fleming Douglas Capital Management Inc. Reduces Holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Folger Nolan Fleming Douglas Capital Management Inc. cut its position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 9.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,393 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 2,404 shares during the quarter. Folger Nolan Fleming Douglas Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $621,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PFE. Swiss National Bank grew its position in Pfizer by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 16,819,712 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $486,762,000 after purchasing an additional 100,900 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 11.0% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 130,143,942 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,766,366,000 after acquiring an additional 12,864,343 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 227,349 shares during the period. Addison Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Pfizer by 394.2% during the third quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 52,238 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,512,000 after purchasing an additional 41,668 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in Pfizer by 26.0% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,105,433 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $89,872,000 after purchasing an additional 639,985 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Pfizer Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of PFE opened at $26.30 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $149.06 billion, a PE ratio of 35.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.00. Pfizer Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.48 and a fifty-two week high of $31.54. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $26.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $28.00.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last released its earnings results 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. Pfizer had a net margin of 7.07% and a return on equity of 16.28%. The business had revenue of $17.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.92 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.17) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 31.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.94 EPS for the current year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.54%. This is an increase from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 24th. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio is presently 227.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Pfizer news, Director Scott Gottlieb bought 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $28.24 per share, with a total value of $28,240.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $282,400. This trade represents a 11.11 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on PFE. StockNews.com downgraded Pfizer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $29.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Pfizer from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Pfizer from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded Pfizer to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Pfizer presently has an average 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.