Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC Cuts Position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC reduced its position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 23.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 43,153 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 13,189 shares during the quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $1,145,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of PFE. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Pfizer by 1.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 290,460,600 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $8,405,930,000 after acquiring an additional 3,405,539 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Pfizer by 11.0% in the third 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 boosted its position in Pfizer by 1.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 117,666,245 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,392,342,000 after buying an additional 1,855,419 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Pfizer by 3.2% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 71,794,056 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,008,798,000 after buying an additional 2,241,609 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 worth $1,101,713,000 after buying an additional 6,977,587 shares during the period. 68.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PFE has been the subject of several recent research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Pfizer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Wolfe Research began coverage on Pfizer in a report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $25.00 price target on the stock. Guggenheim dropped their price objective on Pfizer from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Citigroup initiated coverage on Pfizer in a research note on Friday, October 25th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $30.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Scott Gottlieb acquired 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was bought at an average price of $28.24 per share, with a total value of $28,240.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $282,400. The trade was a 11.11 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Pfizer Stock Up 0.4 %

PFE traded up $0.12 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $26.98. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 14,127,590 shares, compared to its average volume of 32,276,508. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $26.21 and its 200-day moving average is $28.05. Pfizer Inc. has a 1 year low of $24.48 and a 1 year high of $31.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $152.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.46, a PEG ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.42. Pfizer had a return on equity of 16.28% and a net margin of 7.07%. The company had revenue of $17.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.92 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.17) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 EPS for the current year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. This is a boost from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 24th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.38%. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio is presently 232.43%.

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.