Waverton Investment Management Ltd Sells 9,680 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Waverton Investment Management Ltd reduced its holdings in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 22.2% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 33,944 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 9,680 shares during the quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $982,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new stake in Pfizer during the third quarter worth $860,000. Investment Management Associates Inc. ADV increased its position in Pfizer by 17.2% in the third quarter. Investment Management Associates Inc. ADV now owns 21,413 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $620,000 after buying an additional 3,140 shares during the last quarter. Jeppson Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Pfizer by 3.4% in the third quarter. Jeppson Wealth Management LLC now owns 32,732 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $947,000 after buying an additional 1,072 shares during the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC increased its position in Pfizer by 337.2% in the third quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 50,675 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,474,000 after buying an additional 39,085 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV increased its position in Pfizer by 6.4% in the third quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 85,755 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,482,000 after buying an additional 5,128 shares during the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Daiwa America raised Pfizer from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Citigroup assumed coverage on Pfizer in a research report on Friday, October 25th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $30.00 price target for the company. UBS Group lifted their price target on Pfizer from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Pfizer in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $32.00 price target for the company. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Pfizer from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $33.58.

Insider Activity at Pfizer

In other Pfizer news, Director Scott Gottlieb purchased 1,000 shares of Pfizer stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were bought at an average price of $28.24 per share, for a total transaction of $28,240.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $282,400. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Pfizer Trading Down 1.8 %

NYSE PFE opened at $26.24 on Tuesday. Pfizer Inc. has a 1-year low of $25.20 and a 1-year high of $31.54. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average of $28.89 and a 200-day moving average of $28.67. The firm has a market cap of $148.70 billion, a PE ratio of 35.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.85 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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.42. Pfizer had a return on equity of 16.28% and a net margin of 7.07%. The company had revenue of $17.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.92 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.17) EPS. Pfizer’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.96 EPS for the current year.

Pfizer Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.40%. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.