Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) Shares Sold by Searle & CO.

Searle & CO. trimmed its position in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 16.7% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 93,069 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 18,628 shares during the period. Searle & CO.’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $2,693,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PFE. Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in Pfizer by 279.3% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 5,378,173 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $150,481,000 after acquiring an additional 8,378,173 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Pfizer in the first quarter valued at about $172,902,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Pfizer by 181.6% during the first quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 7,670,445 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $212,855,000 after purchasing an additional 4,947,000 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Pfizer by 21.8% in the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 15,813,328 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $438,820,000 after purchasing an additional 2,829,178 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Pfizer by 24,961.6% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,497,886 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $69,891,000 after acquiring an additional 2,487,919 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on PFE. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Pfizer from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Daiwa America raised Pfizer from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Pfizer in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $32.00 price target on the stock. Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of Pfizer from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $28.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Pfizer from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $33.91.

Pfizer Stock Performance

Shares of Pfizer stock traded down $0.13 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $28.71. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 8,641,572 shares, compared to its average volume of 36,861,973. The firm has a market cap of $162.69 billion, a PE ratio of -481.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $29.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $28.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. Pfizer Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $25.20 and a fifty-two week high of $31.54.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $13.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.96 billion. Pfizer had a negative net margin of 4.66% and a positive return on equity of 8.42%. The business’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.67 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.66 EPS for the current year.

Pfizer Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be issued a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.85%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. Pfizer’s payout ratio is currently -2,800.00%.

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.