Sowell Financial Services LLC Increases Position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Sowell Financial Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 180,359 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,581 shares during the quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $4,785,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of PFE. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Pfizer during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Rialto Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Pfizer during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Gladius Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in Pfizer by 102.8% in the third quarter. Gladius Capital Management LP now owns 1,043 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 38,015 shares during the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in Pfizer during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new position in shares of Pfizer during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Pfizer Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of Pfizer stock opened at $26.71 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $26.30 and a 200 day moving average of $27.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $151.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.94, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.61. Pfizer Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.48 and a fifty-two week high of $31.54.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.15. Pfizer had a return on equity of 19.47% and a net margin of 12.62%. The business had revenue of $17.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.10 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 24th were issued a $0.43 dividend. This is a positive change from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.44%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 24th. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio is currently 121.99%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Pfizer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Citigroup dropped their price objective 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. Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of Pfizer from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $29.00 price target on shares of Pfizer in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on Pfizer in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $25.00 target price for the company. One 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.92.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.