Cardinal Capital Management Trims Holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Cardinal Capital Management decreased its stake in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 89,915 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 2,591 shares during the period. Cardinal Capital Management’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $2,385,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in PFE. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Pfizer during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Gladius Capital Management LP increased its stake in Pfizer by 102.8% in the 3rd quarter. Gladius Capital Management LP now owns 1,043 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 38,015 shares during the last quarter. Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Pfizer in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new position in shares of Pfizer during the third quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Joseph Group Capital Management increased its position in shares of Pfizer by 168.3% in the third quarter. Joseph Group Capital Management now owns 1,229 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 771 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on PFE. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $25.00 price target for the company. Evercore ISI upgraded Pfizer to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup dropped their target price on Pfizer from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Pfizer from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.92.

Pfizer Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE PFE opened at $25.50 on Tuesday. Pfizer Inc. has a 1 year low of $24.48 and a 1 year high of $31.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $26.28 and a 200 day moving average of $27.54. The stock has a market cap of $144.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.64.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.15. Pfizer had a return on equity of 19.47% and a net margin of 12.62%. The firm had revenue of $17.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.10 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be given a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 24th. This is a positive change from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Pfizer’s payout ratio is currently 121.99%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Ronald E. Blaylock bought 19,457 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $25.65 per share, with a total value of $499,072.05. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 27,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $710,684.55. This represents a 235.84 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Pfizer Profile

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.