First Manhattan CO. LLC. Reduces Holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

First Manhattan CO. LLC. lessened its position in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 9.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 422,701 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 43,992 shares during the quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC.’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $11,239,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fred Alger Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 13.4% in the 4th quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 116,411 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,088,000 after purchasing an additional 13,743 shares during the last quarter. Cladis Investment Advisory LLC lifted its position in Pfizer by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Cladis Investment Advisory LLC now owns 63,174 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,676,000 after buying an additional 5,036 shares during the last quarter. Clarity Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Pfizer during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main increased its position in shares of Pfizer by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 1,428,271 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $37,892,000 after acquiring an additional 27,188 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Global Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Pfizer in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $359,000. 68.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PFE has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Pfizer from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $25.00 price objective (down previously from $32.00) on shares of Pfizer in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating on shares of Pfizer in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $24.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Pfizer presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.17.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Ronald E. Blaylock bought 19,457 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $25.65 per share, with a total value of $499,072.05. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,707 shares in the company, valued at $710,684.55. This trade represents a 235.84 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Pfizer Stock Down 3.0 %

Shares of NYSE PFE opened at $22.28 on Friday. Pfizer Inc. has a 1 year low of $20.92 and a 1 year high of $31.54. The company has a market capitalization of $126.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.58. 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $24.02 and a two-hundred day moving average of $25.56.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.25. Pfizer had a return on equity of 19.47% and a net margin of 12.62%. The firm had revenue of $13.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.43 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.82 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Investors of record on Friday, May 9th will be given a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 9th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.72%. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 124.64%.

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.