First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. Sells 10,323 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 3.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 255,497 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 10,323 shares during the quarter. First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $7,356,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Pfizer by 10.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 95,772,746 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,161,261,000 after buying an additional 9,393,992 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Pfizer by 0.4% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 84,927,802 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,817,055,000 after purchasing an additional 348,628 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Pfizer by 9.4% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 60,207,521 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,997,083,000 after purchasing an additional 5,185,453 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Pfizer by 30.9% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 24,054,896 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $797,901,000 after purchasing an additional 5,678,004 shares during the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Pfizer by 0.6% in the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 18,380,833 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $609,692,000 after purchasing an additional 101,256 shares during the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Argus cut Pfizer from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. TD Cowen cut Pfizer from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $32.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Guggenheim began coverage on Pfizer in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $36.00 target price on the stock. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.33.

Pfizer Price Performance

PFE stock opened at $25.38 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $26.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $28.42. Pfizer Inc. has a 52-week low of $25.20 and a 52-week high of $40.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $143.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 70.50, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.91.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.19) by $0.29. Pfizer had a net margin of 3.62% and a return on equity of 10.88%. The company had revenue of $14.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.14 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 41.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 14th. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th will be issued a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.62%. Pfizer’s payout ratio is currently 466.67%.

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.