Advisors Capital Management LLC Acquires 260,742 Shares of Pfizer Inc. $PFE

Advisors Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 12.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,411,463 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 260,742 shares during the quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $61,444,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Curio Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 36,600.0% during the second quarter. Curio Wealth LLC now owns 1,101 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 1,098 shares during the period. Grey Fox Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Pfizer during the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute purchased a new stake in Pfizer during the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. True Wealth Design LLC grew its holdings in Pfizer by 302.5% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 1,296 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 974 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Pfizer in the 2nd quarter worth $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on PFE shares. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Tuesday, December 30th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Pfizer in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $30.00 target price on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on Pfizer in a report on Tuesday, December 2nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $26.00 target price for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Pfizer currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $28.00.

Pfizer Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of NYSE:PFE opened at $27.37 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $155.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.13 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.28. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $25.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $25.26. Pfizer Inc. has a 52-week low of $20.92 and a 52-week high of $27.94.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $17.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.93 billion. Pfizer had a return on equity of 20.25% and a net margin of 12.42%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.63 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 6th. Investors of record on Friday, January 23rd will be paid a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 23rd. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 126.47%.

Pfizer Profile

Pfizer Inc (NYSE: PFE) is a multinational biopharmaceutical company headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1849 by Charles Pfizer and Charles Erhart, the company researches, develops, manufactures and commercializes a broad range of medicines and vaccines for human health. Its activities span discovery research, clinical development, regulatory affairs, manufacturing and global commercial distribution across multiple therapeutic areas.

Pfizer’s portfolio and pipeline cover oncology, immunology, cardiology, endocrinology, rare diseases, hospital acute care and anti-infectives, along with a substantial vaccine business.