Griffin Asset Management Inc. Has $2.18 Million Stock Position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Griffin Asset Management Inc. reduced its position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 13.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 82,118 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 12,489 shares during the period. Griffin Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $2,179,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Pfizer by 1.6% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 612,429 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $17,068,000 after purchasing an additional 9,435 shares during the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC lifted its position in Pfizer by 23.2% in the second quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 50,845 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,423,000 after purchasing an additional 9,565 shares during the period. Creative Planning boosted its stake in Pfizer by 13.3% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 1,554,564 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $43,497,000 after buying an additional 182,950 shares in the last quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Pfizer in the 2nd quarter valued at $409,000. Finally, Silver Lake Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Pfizer in the 2nd quarter valued at $208,000. 68.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PFE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Pfizer in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $25.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Pfizer from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Pfizer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Guggenheim dropped their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.92.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Scott Gottlieb purchased 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $28.24 per share, with a total value of $28,240.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $282,400. This represents a 11.11 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Pfizer Trading Up 2.9 %

Pfizer stock opened at $26.86 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $152.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.29, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.64. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $26.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $27.94. Pfizer Inc. has a 52 week low of $24.48 and a 52 week high of $31.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.00.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.42. Pfizer had a return on equity of 16.28% and a net margin of 7.07%. The firm had revenue of $17.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.92 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.17) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 31.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 24th. This is a positive change from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.40%. Pfizer’s payout ratio is 227.03%.

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.