Staley Capital Advisers Inc. Buys 73,594 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Staley Capital Advisers Inc. lifted its stake in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 3.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,150,418 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 73,594 shares during the period. Pfizer makes up approximately 2.5% of Staley Capital Advisers Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Staley Capital Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $57,051,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 0.6% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 16,819,712 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $486,762,000 after buying an additional 100,900 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Pfizer by 11.0% during 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. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in Pfizer by 80.9% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 508,256 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $14,709,000 after purchasing an additional 227,349 shares during the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Pfizer by 394.2% during the third quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 52,238 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,512,000 after purchasing an additional 41,668 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its stake in Pfizer by 26.0% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,105,433 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $89,872,000 after purchasing an additional 639,985 shares during the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Pfizer Stock Performance

NYSE PFE opened at $26.62 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $150.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.88, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.61. Pfizer Inc. has a twelve month low of $24.48 and a twelve month high of $31.54. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $26.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $27.21. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

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. The business had revenue of $17.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.26 billion. Pfizer had a return on equity of 19.47% and a net margin of 12.62%. Pfizer’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.10 earnings per share. Sell-side 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 was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th were given a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 24th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.46%. This is a boost from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio is 121.99%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $33.00 target price on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com cut Pfizer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. UBS Group cut their target price on Pfizer from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Citigroup cut their target price on Pfizer from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of Pfizer from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.92.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pfizer

In other news, Director Ronald E. Blaylock purchased 19,457 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $25.65 per share, with a total value of $499,072.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 27,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $710,684.55. The trade was a 235.84 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.