Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC Sells 4,740 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 19.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 19,690 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 4,740 shares during the quarter. Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $522,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Prairie Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 23.5% in the fourth 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 period. Keystone Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Pfizer in the fourth quarter worth approximately $114,000. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 52,578 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 14,075,637 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $373,427,000 after acquiring an additional 956,873 shares during the period. Finally, Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 19,570.5% in the fourth quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 800,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $21,224,000 after acquiring an additional 795,933 shares during the period. 68.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Pfizer Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of Pfizer stock opened at $25.83 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $26.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $27.78. Pfizer Inc. has a 12-month low of $24.48 and a 12-month high of $31.54. The company has a market capitalization of $146.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.73 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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.15. Pfizer had a return on equity of 16.28% and a net margin of 7.07%. The business had revenue of $17.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.10 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.66%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 24th. This is a boost from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio is currently 232.44%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on PFE shares. Citigroup cut their price objective on Pfizer from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com lowered Pfizer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $29.00 price target on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Evercore ISI raised Pfizer to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on Pfizer in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $25.00 price target on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.92.

About Pfizer

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.