Cascade Investment Advisors Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Cascade Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 5.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 63,144 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,235 shares during the quarter. Cascade Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $1,675,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp grew its position in Pfizer by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 290,460,600 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $8,405,930,000 after buying an additional 3,405,539 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Pfizer by 1.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 117,666,245 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,392,342,000 after purchasing an additional 1,855,419 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in Pfizer by 22.4% in the third 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 purchasing an additional 6,977,587 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in Pfizer by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 16,819,712 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $486,762,000 after purchasing an additional 100,900 shares in the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on PFE shares. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Pfizer in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $32.00 price target for the company. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $25.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Pfizer from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Pfizer in a report on Friday, October 25th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $30.00 target price for the company. 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Pfizer has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $32.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Pfizer Stock Up 2.9 %

PFE opened at $26.86 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $26.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.94. Pfizer Inc. has a 52 week low of $24.48 and a 52 week high of $31.54. The firm has a market cap of $152.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.29, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.64. 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 quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.06 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.42. The business had revenue of $17.70 billion during 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 31.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.17) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The firm 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 is an increase from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.40%. Pfizer’s payout ratio 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.