First Bank & Trust Sells 11,280 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

First Bank & Trust reduced its position in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 14.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 66,415 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 11,280 shares during the quarter. First Bank & Trust’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $1,762,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Pfizer by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 290,460,600 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $8,405,930,000 after purchasing an additional 3,405,539 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 12,864,343 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Pfizer by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 117,666,245 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,392,342,000 after buying an additional 1,855,419 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in shares of 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 worth $1,101,713,000 after buying an additional 6,977,587 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of Pfizer by 28.5% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 21,286,805 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $564,739,000 after buying an additional 4,726,549 shares during the period. 68.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Ronald E. Blaylock acquired 19,457 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were bought at an average price of $25.65 per share, for a total transaction of $499,072.05. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 27,707 shares in the company, valued at approximately $710,684.55. This trade represents a 235.84 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PFE has been the subject of several analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $45.00 target price on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Truist Financial decreased their target price on Pfizer from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Evercore ISI upgraded Pfizer to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Pfizer in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $25.00 target price for the company. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on Pfizer from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. 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. According to MarketBeat, Pfizer currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $31.92.

Pfizer Trading Up 1.2 %

NYSE:PFE opened at $25.87 on Thursday. Pfizer Inc. has a twelve month low of $24.48 and a twelve month high of $31.54. 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 business has a 50 day moving average price of $26.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $27.45. The company has a market cap of $146.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.64.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.15. Pfizer had a return on equity of 19.47% and a net margin of 12.62%. The firm had revenue of $17.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.10 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 24th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.65%. This is an increase from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio is 121.99%.

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.