Altrius Capital Management Inc Increases Holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Altrius Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 11.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 169,634 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,050 shares during the period. Altrius Capital Management Inc’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $4,500,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Pfizer in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Gladius Capital Management LP grew its position in shares of Pfizer by 102.8% during the 3rd quarter. Gladius Capital Management LP now owns 1,043 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 38,015 shares during the period. Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new stake in Pfizer in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new position in Pfizer during the third quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Joseph Group Capital Management lifted its stake in Pfizer by 168.3% in the 3rd quarter. Joseph Group Capital Management now owns 1,229 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 771 shares in the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Pfizer

In related news, Director Ronald E. Blaylock purchased 19,457 shares of Pfizer stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $25.65 per share, with a total value of $499,072.05. Following the acquisition, 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 ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Truist Financial cut 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. StockNews.com cut Pfizer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $25.00 target price for the company. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $29.00 price target on shares of Pfizer in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.92.

Pfizer Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PFE opened at $26.09 on Friday. Pfizer Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.48 and a fifty-two week high of $31.54. The stock has a market cap of $147.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.50, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.64. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $26.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $17.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.26 billion. Pfizer had a return on equity of 19.47% and a net margin of 12.62%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.10 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 EPS for the current year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 24th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.59%. This is a positive change from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 121.99%.

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.