North Star Investment Management Corp. Has $8.36 Million Stake in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

North Star Investment Management Corp. cut its holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 289,007 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 3,118 shares during the period. North Star Investment Management Corp.’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $8,364,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. lifted its stake in Pfizer by 1.3% in the second quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 26,306 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $736,000 after buying an additional 342 shares during the period. Sachetta LLC lifted its position in shares of Pfizer by 7.3% during the 2nd quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 5,010 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $140,000 after acquiring an additional 342 shares during the period. Wells Trecaso Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Pfizer by 2.5% during the third quarter. Wells Trecaso Financial Group LLC now owns 14,361 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $416,000 after acquiring an additional 350 shares in the last quarter. Ironvine Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 2.1% during the first quarter. Ironvine Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,953 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $470,000 after purchasing an additional 353 shares during the period. Finally, Secure Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Pfizer by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 58,328 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,632,000 after buying an additional 353 shares during the period. 68.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on PFE shares. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Pfizer in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $32.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Friday, October 25th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $30.00 price target for the company. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Pfizer to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of Pfizer from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $28.00 to $34.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $33.58.

Pfizer Stock Performance

NYSE:PFE traded down $0.01 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $27.75. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,934,879 shares, compared to its average volume of 37,141,242. Pfizer Inc. has a 12 month low of $25.20 and a 12 month high of $31.54. The firm has a market cap of $157.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.67. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $29.01 and a 200-day moving average of $28.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.86.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.42. The company had revenue of $17.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.92 billion. Pfizer had a net margin of 7.07% and a return on equity of 16.40%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.17) earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th will be paid a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.05%. Pfizer’s payout ratio is 227.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pfizer

In other news, Director Scott Gottlieb bought 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $28.24 per share, for a total transaction of $28,240.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $282,400. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.