Bell Investment Advisors Inc Trims Holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Bell Investment Advisors Inc trimmed its position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 26.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,147 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 1,135 shares during the period. Bell Investment Advisors Inc’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $83,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PFE. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 290,460,600 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $8,405,930,000 after acquiring an additional 3,405,539 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Pfizer by 19.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 155,459,101 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $4,124,330,000 after purchasing an additional 25,315,159 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 117,666,245 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,392,342,000 after purchasing an additional 1,855,419 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake 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 buying an additional 6,977,587 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 28.5% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 21,286,805 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $564,739,000 after buying an additional 4,726,549 shares during the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Ronald E. Blaylock bought 19,457 shares of Pfizer stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were bought at an average price of $25.65 per share, with a total value of $499,072.05. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 27,707 shares in the company, valued at approximately $710,684.55. This represents a 235.84 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on PFE. UBS Group reduced their target price on Pfizer from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Pfizer from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com cut Pfizer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Pfizer in a report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $25.00 target price for the company. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $33.00 target price on shares of Pfizer in a report on Monday, February 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.92.

Pfizer Stock Performance

Pfizer stock opened at $26.71 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $26.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $27.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $151.35 billion, a PE ratio of 18.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.00. Pfizer Inc. has a one year low of $24.48 and a one year high of $31.54.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $17.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. Pfizer had a return on equity of 19.47% and a net margin of 12.62%. Pfizer’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.10 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th were paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.44%. This is an increase from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 24th. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio is 121.99%.

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.