Verus Financial Partners Inc. Has $280,000 Holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Verus Financial Partners Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 7.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,204 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 796 shares during the quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc.’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $280,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Pfizer by 10.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 95,772,746 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,161,261,000 after purchasing an additional 9,393,992 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Pfizer by 30.9% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 24,054,896 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $797,901,000 after purchasing an additional 5,678,004 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in Pfizer by 9.4% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 60,207,521 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,997,083,000 after purchasing an additional 5,185,453 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its stake in Pfizer by 219.4% during the third quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 5,503,983 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $182,567,000 after purchasing an additional 3,780,696 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in Pfizer by 33.6% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 12,984,150 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $373,813,000 after purchasing an additional 3,265,276 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on PFE shares. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a report on Monday, April 15th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $36.00 price target (up from $33.00) on shares of Pfizer in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Argus lowered Pfizer from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Guggenheim began coverage on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $36.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Pfizer from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.00.

Pfizer Stock Performance

NYSE PFE remained flat at $27.85 during mid-day trading on Thursday. 15,480,966 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 43,225,629. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $26.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.12. Pfizer Inc. has a 12-month low of $25.20 and a 12-month high of $40.37. The stock has a market cap of $157.70 billion, a P/E ratio of -463.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.26. Pfizer had a negative net margin of 0.56% and a positive return on equity of 8.58%. The company had revenue of $14.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.87 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.23 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 14th. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th will be given a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.03%. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -2,799.53%.

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.