Costello Asset Management INC Purchases 46,795 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Costello Asset Management INC boosted its holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 461.9% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 56,925 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 46,795 shares during the period. Costello Asset Management INC’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $1,647,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in Pfizer by 371.6% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 10,079 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $292,000 after buying an additional 7,942 shares in the last quarter. XML Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 1.5% during the third quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 182,019 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $5,268,000 after purchasing an additional 2,690 shares during the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc boosted its holdings in Pfizer by 1.1% in the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 300,430 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $8,694,000 after purchasing an additional 3,243 shares during the last quarter. Kerusso Capital Management LLC grew its position in Pfizer by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Kerusso Capital Management LLC now owns 111,081 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,215,000 after purchasing an additional 6,759 shares during the period. Finally, TCTC Holdings LLC raised its stake in Pfizer by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 1,349,889 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $39,066,000 after buying an additional 4,912 shares during the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Pfizer Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of PFE opened at $26.72 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $151.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.60. Pfizer Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.20 and a 1 year high of $31.54. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $28.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $28.63.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.42. The company had revenue of $17.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.92 billion. Pfizer had a net margin of 7.07% and a return on equity of 16.28%. Pfizer’s quarterly revenue was up 31.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.17) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. Pfizer’s payout ratio is presently 227.03%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Citigroup started coverage on Pfizer in a report on Friday, October 25th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $30.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com raised shares of Pfizer from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Pfizer to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Daiwa America raised Pfizer from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $33.58.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pfizer

In other news, Director Scott Gottlieb acquired 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $28.24 per share, with a total value of $28,240.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $282,400. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.