Baker Chad R Decreases Stake in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Baker Chad R decreased its holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 49.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 12,500 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 12,000 shares during the quarter. Baker Chad R’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $332,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Gladius Capital Management LP boosted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 102.8% during the 3rd quarter. Gladius Capital Management LP now owns 1,043 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 38,015 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Pfizer during the second quarter worth $31,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new stake in Pfizer during the third quarter worth $35,000. Joseph Group Capital Management increased its position in shares of Pfizer by 168.3% in the third quarter. Joseph Group Capital Management now owns 1,229 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 771 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new position in shares of Pfizer during the 3rd quarter worth $50,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Pfizer Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of PFE stock opened at $26.30 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $26.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.00. 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 Inc. has a 1-year low of $24.48 and a 1-year high of $31.54. The firm has a market cap of $149.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.55, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.64.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.42. Pfizer had a net margin of 7.07% and a return on equity of 16.28%. The company had revenue of $17.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.92 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.17) earnings per share. Pfizer’s revenue was up 31.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.94 EPS for the current year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 24th. This is an increase from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Pfizer’s payout ratio is 227.03%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Pfizer news, Director Scott Gottlieb purchased 1,000 shares of Pfizer stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $28.24 per share, with a total value of $28,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $282,400. This represents a 11.11 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on PFE. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $29.00 price target on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Guggenheim reduced their target price on Pfizer from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Wolfe Research started coverage on Pfizer in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $25.00 price target for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded Pfizer to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Pfizer currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.00.

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.