Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC Increases Position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 15,682 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 434 shares during the quarter. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $416,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in PFE. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Pfizer by 11.0% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 130,143,942 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,766,366,000 after purchasing an additional 12,864,343 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of Pfizer by 22.4% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 38,068,879 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,101,713,000 after purchasing an additional 6,977,587 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Pfizer during the 3rd quarter worth $146,481,000. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. grew its holdings in Pfizer by 164.2% during the third quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 7,316,405 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $211,737,000 after purchasing an additional 4,546,809 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Pfizer by 226.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,209,907 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $179,715,000 after acquiring an additional 4,309,076 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Pfizer Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of PFE opened at $26.46 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $149.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.76, a P/E/G ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 0.64. Pfizer Inc. has a 12-month low of $24.48 and a 12-month high of $31.54. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $26.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $27.79. 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 issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.15. Pfizer had a net margin of 7.07% and a return on equity of 16.28%. The business had revenue of $17.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.10 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be issued a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.50%. This is a boost from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 24th. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio is currently 232.44%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on PFE shares. 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 research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Guggenheim reduced their price objective on Pfizer from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $32.00 price target on the stock. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Pfizer to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price target on Pfizer from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Pfizer presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.92.

Pfizer Company Profile

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.