Meritage Portfolio Management Sells 12,626 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Meritage Portfolio Management decreased its position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 41.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 17,662 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 12,626 shares during the period. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $469,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Artemis Investment Management LLP lifted its stake in Pfizer by 27.9% in the third quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 460,127 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $13,316,000 after acquiring an additional 100,492 shares during the period. City Holding Co. lifted its stake in Pfizer by 12.5% in the third quarter. City Holding Co. now owns 33,636 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $973,000 after acquiring an additional 3,726 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management lifted its stake in Pfizer by 1.5% in the third quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 123,930 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,587,000 after acquiring an additional 1,876 shares during the period. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors lifted its stake in Pfizer by 25.4% in the third quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors now owns 12,223 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $354,000 after acquiring an additional 2,479 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC lifted its stake in Pfizer by 3.6% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,323,928 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $38,314,000 after acquiring an additional 46,221 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com lowered Pfizer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Pfizer from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Evercore ISI raised Pfizer to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $29.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Guggenheim lowered their price objective on Pfizer from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $31.92.

Pfizer Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PFE opened at $25.83 on Friday. Pfizer Inc. has a 1-year low of $24.48 and a 1-year high of $31.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $26.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $27.78. The company has a market capitalization of $146.35 billion, a PE ratio of 34.90, a PEG ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 0.64.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.15. Pfizer had a return on equity of 16.28% and a net margin of 7.07%. The firm had revenue of $17.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.26 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.10 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, January 24th will be issued a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.66%. 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 (DPR) is presently 232.44%.

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.