BankPlus Wealth Management LLC Buys New Shares in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

BankPlus Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 14,995 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $398,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Swiss National Bank raised its position in Pfizer by 0.6% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 16,819,712 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $486,762,000 after acquiring an additional 100,900 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Pfizer by 11.0% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 130,143,942 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,766,366,000 after acquiring an additional 12,864,343 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in Pfizer by 80.9% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 508,256 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $14,709,000 after purchasing an additional 227,349 shares during the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Pfizer by 394.2% in the third quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 52,238 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,512,000 after acquiring an additional 41,668 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of Pfizer by 26.0% during 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. 68.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pfizer

In other Pfizer news, Director Scott Gottlieb purchased 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $28.24 per share, with a total value of $28,240.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $282,400. This trade represents a 11.11 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Pfizer Stock Performance

Shares of PFE stock opened at $26.86 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $26.11 and its 200-day moving average price is $27.94. The stock has a market cap of $152.19 billion, a PE ratio of 36.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.64. Pfizer Inc. has a 12 month low of $24.48 and a 12 month high of $31.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.06 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.42. Pfizer had a return on equity of 16.28% and a net margin of 7.07%. The company had revenue of $17.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.92 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.17) earnings per share. Pfizer’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on PFE shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Truist Financial reduced their price target 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 reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $29.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Pfizer in a report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $25.00 target price for the company. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Pfizer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.00.

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.