Janney Capital Management LLC Sells 54,845 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Janney Capital Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 12.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 395,819 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 54,845 shares during the period. Janney Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $10,501,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its holdings in Pfizer by 2.8% during the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 739,236 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $20,684,000 after purchasing an additional 20,140 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Pfizer by 7.3% during the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 845,638 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $23,661,000 after buying an additional 57,825 shares in the last quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Pfizer by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 113,143 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,166,000 after acquiring an additional 1,855 shares during the period. Cheviot Value Management LLC increased its holdings in Pfizer by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Cheviot Value Management LLC now owns 427,539 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $11,963,000 after acquiring an additional 22,112 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Samlyn Capital LLC raised its stake in Pfizer by 41.8% during the 2nd quarter. Samlyn Capital LLC now owns 4,906,703 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $137,290,000 after acquiring an additional 1,446,582 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on PFE. Citigroup started 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. UBS Group decreased their price target on Pfizer from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Evercore ISI raised Pfizer to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $29.00 target price on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Pfizer in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $25.00 price target for the company. 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 data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $32.00.

Pfizer Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of PFE opened at $26.38 on Wednesday. Pfizer Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.48 and a fifty-two week high of $31.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.00. The company’s fifty day moving average is $26.09 and its 200 day moving average is $27.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $149.50 billion, a PE ratio of 35.73, a P/E/G ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.64.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.06 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $17.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.92 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.17) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 24th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.52%. This is an increase from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Pfizer’s payout ratio is currently 227.03%.

Insider Activity at Pfizer

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