Martin & Co. Inc. TN Lowers Stake in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Martin & Co. Inc. TN lowered its stake in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 6.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 38,240 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 2,645 shares during the period. Martin & Co. Inc. TN’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $1,015,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Creative Planning increased its position in shares of Pfizer by 17.1% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 1,820,731 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $52,692,000 after purchasing an additional 266,167 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB increased its position in shares of Pfizer by 0.7% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 5,745,831 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $166,284,000 after purchasing an additional 37,636 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. increased its position in shares of Pfizer by 11.6% during the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 290,370 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $8,403,000 after purchasing an additional 30,107 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Pfizer by 0.6% during the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 111,559 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,229,000 after purchasing an additional 621 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stratos Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Pfizer by 15.6% during the third quarter. Stratos Investment Management LLC now owns 14,928 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $432,000 after purchasing an additional 2,013 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $33.00 price target on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wolfe Research started coverage on Pfizer in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $25.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded Pfizer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised Pfizer to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Pfizer currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.92.

Pfizer Trading Down 0.6 %

PFE stock opened at $25.50 on Monday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $26.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. Pfizer Inc. has a 52-week low of $24.48 and a 52-week high of $31.54. The firm has a market cap of $144.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.08, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.64.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $17.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. Pfizer had a net margin of 12.62% and a return on equity of 19.47%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.10 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 24th. This is a positive change from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.75%. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 121.99%.

Insider Activity at Pfizer

In related news, Director Ronald E. Blaylock purchased 19,457 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $25.65 per share, with a total value of $499,072.05. Following the purchase, the director now owns 27,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $710,684.55. This represents a 235.84 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Pfizer 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.