UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp Lowers Stake in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp trimmed its holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 34.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 30,505 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 16,141 shares during the period. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $809,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. PSI Advisors LLC raised its stake in Pfizer by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. PSI Advisors LLC now owns 27,823 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $738,000 after acquiring an additional 385 shares during the last quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC raised its stake in shares of Pfizer by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 38,706 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,027,000 after purchasing an additional 391 shares during the last quarter. D Orazio & Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. D Orazio & Associates Inc. now owns 7,549 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $200,000 after purchasing an additional 391 shares during the period. Lipe & Dalton grew its position in Pfizer by 17.7% in the 4th quarter. Lipe & Dalton now owns 2,659 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $71,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC increased its stake in Pfizer by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC now owns 18,811 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $499,000 after buying an additional 401 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PFE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Pfizer from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Pfizer in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on Pfizer from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $29.00 price target on shares of Pfizer in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on Pfizer from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $31.92.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Ronald E. Blaylock purchased 19,457 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $25.65 per share, for a total transaction of $499,072.05. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly 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 purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Pfizer Price Performance

NYSE:PFE opened at $25.19 on Thursday. Pfizer Inc. has a 12-month low of $24.48 and a 12-month high of $31.54. The firm has a market cap of $142.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.61. The company’s 50-day moving average is $26.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $26.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

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

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.