BLB&B Advisors LLC Has $2.01 Million Holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

BLB&B Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 15.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 75,789 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 14,242 shares during the period. BLB&B Advisors LLC’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $2,011,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PFE. Realta Investment Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 40.7% in the fourth quarter. Realta Investment Advisors now owns 14,842 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $395,000 after purchasing an additional 4,293 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Pfizer in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $857,000. Prairie Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Pfizer by 23.5% during the 4th quarter. Prairie Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 9,407 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $250,000 after acquiring an additional 1,791 shares during the last quarter. Keystone Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Pfizer during the 4th quarter worth approximately $114,000. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its position in shares of Pfizer by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 756,400 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $20,067,000 after purchasing an additional 52,578 shares in the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PFE. Evercore ISI raised shares of Pfizer to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Guggenheim lowered their target price on Pfizer from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Wolfe Research assumed 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. StockNews.com lowered Pfizer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Pfizer from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.92.

Pfizer Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of PFE opened at $25.76 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $145.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.00. Pfizer Inc. has a 52 week low of $24.48 and a 52 week high of $31.54. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $26.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.77.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $17.76 billion for 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%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.10 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The firm 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 $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.68%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 24th. This is a boost from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Pfizer’s payout ratio is presently 121.99%.

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.