Verus Capital Partners LLC Lowers Holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Verus Capital Partners LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 8.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,300 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 1,749 shares during the period. Verus Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $485,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Pfizer by 1.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 290,460,600 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $8,405,930,000 after acquiring an additional 3,405,539 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Pfizer by 11.0% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 130,143,942 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,766,366,000 after purchasing an additional 12,864,343 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Pfizer by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 117,666,245 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,392,342,000 after purchasing an additional 1,855,419 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 22.4% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 38,068,879 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,101,713,000 after buying an additional 6,977,587 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of Pfizer by 28.5% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 21,286,805 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $564,739,000 after buying an additional 4,726,549 shares in the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Ronald E. Blaylock acquired 19,457 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $25.65 per share, with a total value of $499,072.05. Following the transaction, the director now owns 27,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $710,684.55. The trade was a 235.84 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Pfizer Trading Up 1.3 %

PFE opened at $26.43 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. Pfizer Inc. has a 52 week low of $24.48 and a 52 week high of $31.54. The business’s 50 day moving average is $26.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $27.34. The firm has a market cap of $149.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.64.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $17.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.26 billion. Pfizer had a net margin of 12.62% and a return on equity of 19.47%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.10 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 EPS 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 paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. This is an increase from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 24th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.51%. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio is 121.99%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on PFE. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $25.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com lowered shares of Pfizer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $33.00 target price on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $29.00 price target on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on Pfizer from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.92.

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.