Essex Savings Bank Sells 1,300 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Essex Savings Bank cut its position in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 2.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 49,100 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 1,300 shares during the period. Essex Savings Bank’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $1,420,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of PFE. Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in Pfizer by 279.3% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 5,378,173 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $150,481,000 after acquiring an additional 8,378,173 shares during the period. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Pfizer in the first quarter valued at $172,902,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Pfizer during the third quarter worth $146,481,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 24,961.6% during the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,497,886 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $69,891,000 after purchasing an additional 2,487,919 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 120.7% during the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 4,498,313 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $130,181,000 after purchasing an additional 2,459,666 shares during the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Pfizer news, Director Scott Gottlieb purchased 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $28.24 per share, for a total transaction of $28,240.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $282,400. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PFE has been the topic of several research analyst reports. 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 report on Wednesday, July 31st. Evercore ISI upgraded Pfizer to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays increased their target price on Pfizer from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Pfizer in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $32.00 price target on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com raised Pfizer from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Eight research 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $33.58.

Pfizer Trading Down 1.2 %

NYSE:PFE opened at $26.72 on Friday. Pfizer Inc. has a 1-year low of $25.20 and a 1-year high of $31.54. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $28.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $151.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.11, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.67.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last released its 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. 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 analyst estimates of $14.92 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.17) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 31.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Pfizer Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be issued a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.29%. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.