Grandfield & Dodd LLC Sells 1,018 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Grandfield & Dodd LLC trimmed its holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 69,174 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 1,018 shares during the quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $1,835,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in PFE. Investment Partners LTD. grew its stake in shares of Pfizer by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Investment Partners LTD. now owns 20,616 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $547,000 after buying an additional 1,647 shares during the last quarter. LGT Group Foundation grew its position in Pfizer by 19.8% during the 4th quarter. LGT Group Foundation now owns 916,746 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $24,321,000 after acquiring an additional 151,309 shares during the last quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 30.2% in the fourth quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 206,279 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $5,492,000 after purchasing an additional 47,834 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Pfizer during the 4th quarter valued at $7,730,000. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in Pfizer by 36.3% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,825,952 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $48,442,000 after buying an additional 485,895 shares during the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Pfizer Trading Up 1.3 %

NYSE:PFE opened at $26.43 on Monday. Pfizer Inc. has a one year low of $24.48 and a one year high of $31.54. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $26.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $149.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.74, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.73.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.15. Pfizer had a return on equity of 19.47% and a net margin of 12.62%. The company had revenue of $17.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.10 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, January 24th will be paid a $0.43 dividend. 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 yield of 6.51%. Pfizer’s payout ratio is presently 121.99%.

Insider Activity at Pfizer

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on PFE shares. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $33.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Monday, February 10th. 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. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Pfizer from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $29.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on Pfizer from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Pfizer currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $31.92.

About Pfizer

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.