Financial Advocates Investment Management Grows Stock Holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Financial Advocates Investment Management lifted its holdings in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 18.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 53,277 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 8,368 shares during the period. Financial Advocates Investment Management’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $1,413,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PFE. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Pfizer by 11.0% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 130,143,942 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,766,366,000 after acquiring an additional 12,864,343 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in Pfizer by 22.4% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 38,068,879 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,101,713,000 after purchasing an additional 6,977,587 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Pfizer during the 3rd quarter worth $146,481,000. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. lifted its holdings in Pfizer by 164.2% in the 3rd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 7,316,405 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $211,737,000 after buying an additional 4,546,809 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Pfizer by 226.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,209,907 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $179,715,000 after buying an additional 4,309,076 shares during the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PFE has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $29.00 target price on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on Pfizer from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Pfizer from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Guggenheim decreased their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $31.92.

Pfizer Stock Down 2.3 %

PFE stock opened at $25.83 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $26.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.78. The stock has a market cap of $146.35 billion, a PE ratio of 34.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 0.64. Pfizer Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.48 and a fifty-two week high of $31.54.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.15. Pfizer had a return on equity of 16.28% and a net margin of 7.07%. The company had revenue of $17.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.10 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.96 EPS for the current year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 6.66%. This is a positive change 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 (DPR) is 232.44%.

Pfizer 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.