SpiderRock Advisors LLC Cuts Stake in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

SpiderRock Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 2.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 198,616 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 5,353 shares during the period. SpiderRock Advisors LLC’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $5,748,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PFE. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Pfizer in the first quarter worth about $315,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Pfizer during the 1st quarter valued at about $439,000. Duality Advisers LP bought a new position in shares of Pfizer in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,009,000. Clifford Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Pfizer by 29.3% in the first quarter. Clifford Capital Partners LLC now owns 442,593 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $12,282,000 after acquiring an additional 100,210 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC bought a new stake in Pfizer during the first quarter worth approximately $40,712,000. 68.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PFE has been the topic of several recent research reports. Daiwa America upgraded Pfizer from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Pfizer from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Pfizer from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Pfizer from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Pfizer from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $33.58.

Pfizer Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PFE opened at $26.73 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $28.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.63. Pfizer Inc. has a 12 month low of $25.20 and a 12 month high of $31.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $151.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.12, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.60.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.42. The firm had revenue of $17.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.92 billion. Pfizer had a return on equity of 16.28% and a net margin of 7.07%. Pfizer’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.17) EPS. Analysts expect that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.96 EPS for the current year.

Pfizer Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th will be given a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. Pfizer’s payout ratio is 227.03%.

Insider Activity at Pfizer

In other Pfizer news, Director Scott Gottlieb bought 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $282,400. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.