Buffington Mohr McNeal Makes New Investment in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Buffington Mohr McNeal acquired a new stake in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 12,462 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $331,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Pfizer in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Gladius Capital Management LP grew its stake in shares of Pfizer by 102.8% during the 3rd quarter. Gladius Capital Management LP now owns 1,043 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 38,015 shares during the period. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Pfizer during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new position in Pfizer in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Joseph Group Capital Management raised its stake in shares of Pfizer by 168.3% during the third quarter. Joseph Group Capital Management now owns 1,229 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 771 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PFE. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Pfizer in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $32.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com downgraded Pfizer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. UBS Group cut their price target on Pfizer from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Guggenheim cut their target price on Pfizer from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Pfizer in a report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $25.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $32.00.

Insider Transactions at Pfizer

In other Pfizer news, Director Scott Gottlieb purchased 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $28.24 per share, with a total value of $28,240.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $282,400. The trade was a 11.11 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Pfizer Price Performance

Shares of PFE opened at $26.86 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $152.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.64. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $26.11 and its 200-day moving average is $27.94. Pfizer Inc. has a one year low of $24.48 and a one year high of $31.54. 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 (NYSE:PFE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.42. Pfizer had a net margin of 7.07% and a return on equity of 16.28%. The company had revenue of $17.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.92 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.17) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.94 EPS for the current year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 24th. This is a boost from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.40%. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 227.03%.

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.