Heritage Wealth Management Inc. Cuts Stake in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Heritage Wealth Management Inc. lowered its position in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 28.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 33,546 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 13,300 shares during the period. Heritage Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $890,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PFE. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Pfizer by 11.0% during 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 buying an additional 12,864,343 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in shares of Pfizer by 22.4% during the third 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 buying an additional 6,977,587 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Pfizer by 79.5% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 11,148,116 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $295,760,000 after purchasing an additional 4,938,209 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in Pfizer by 28.5% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 21,286,805 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $564,739,000 after purchasing an additional 4,726,549 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. grew its stake in Pfizer by 164.2% in the third quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 7,316,405 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $211,737,000 after purchasing an additional 4,546,809 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pfizer

In related news, Director Ronald E. Blaylock purchased 19,457 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $25.65 per share, with a total value of $499,072.05. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 27,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $710,684.55. The trade was a 235.84 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on PFE. StockNews.com lowered Pfizer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Citigroup cut their target price on Pfizer from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. UBS Group cut their target price on 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 cut their target price on Pfizer from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Pfizer in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $25.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Pfizer presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.92.

Pfizer Trading Up 1.3 %

Pfizer stock opened at $26.43 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. Pfizer Inc. has a 52 week low of $24.48 and a 52 week high of $31.54. The company has a market capitalization of $149.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.64. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $26.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.33.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.63 EPS 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 previous year, the company posted $0.10 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 EPS for the current year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, January 24th will be issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. This is an increase from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 24th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.51%. Pfizer’s 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.