Bank & Trust Co Cuts Stake in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Bank & Trust Co trimmed its holdings in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 36,476 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 476 shares during the period. Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $968,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Swiss National Bank lifted its position in Pfizer by 0.6% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 16,819,712 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $486,762,000 after acquiring an additional 100,900 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Pfizer by 11.0% during 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 buying an additional 12,864,343 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 80.9% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 508,256 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $14,709,000 after acquiring an additional 227,349 shares during the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 394.2% during the third quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 52,238 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,512,000 after purchasing an additional 41,668 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 26.0% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,105,433 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $89,872,000 after buying an additional 639,985 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on PFE. Wolfe Research started coverage on Pfizer in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $25.00 price target for the company. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Pfizer to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $29.00 target price on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Pfizer from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Guggenheim lowered their target price on shares of Pfizer from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $32.15.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Pfizer news, Director Scott Gottlieb bought 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was bought at an average price of $28.24 per share, for a total transaction of $28,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $282,400. The trade was a 11.11 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Pfizer Stock Performance

PFE traded up $0.41 on Tuesday, reaching $27.30. The company had a trading volume of 14,823,570 shares, compared to its average volume of 30,958,484. The stock has a market capitalization of $154.71 billion, a PE ratio of 36.89, a P/E/G ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.64. Pfizer Inc. has a 1 year low of $24.48 and a 1 year high of $31.54. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $26.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $28.07. 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 (NYSE:PFE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.42. The business had revenue of $17.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.92 billion. Pfizer had a net margin of 7.07% and a return on equity of 16.28%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 31.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.17) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be given a $0.43 dividend. This is a boost from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 24th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.30%. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio is presently 232.43%.

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.