Element Wealth LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Element Wealth LLC reduced its stake in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 8.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 14,019 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 1,294 shares during the period. Element Wealth LLC’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $372,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 290,460,600 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $8,405,930,000 after purchasing an additional 3,405,539 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 11.0% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 130,143,942 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,766,366,000 after purchasing an additional 12,864,343 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 1.6% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake 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 buying an additional 6,977,587 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in Pfizer by 28.5% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 21,286,805 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $564,739,000 after buying an additional 4,726,549 shares during the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on PFE shares. StockNews.com cut Pfizer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Pfizer from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $29.00 price target on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $33.00 price target on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on Pfizer in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $25.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Pfizer has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.92.

Pfizer Stock Up 1.6 %

Pfizer stock opened at $26.32 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $149.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.64. Pfizer Inc. has a 52 week low of $24.48 and a 52 week high of $31.54. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $26.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $27.42. 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 posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $17.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. Pfizer had a return on equity of 19.47% and a net margin of 12.62%. Pfizer’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.10 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 24th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.54%. This is an increase from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio is currently 121.99%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Pfizer news, Director Ronald E. Blaylock purchased 19,457 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were bought at an average price of $25.65 per share, for a total transaction of $499,072.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 27,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $710,684.55. This trade represents a 235.84 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Pfizer Company 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.