First City Capital Management Inc. Increases Position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

First City Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 14.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 52,014 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,431 shares during the period. Pfizer comprises about 0.8% of First City Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest holding. First City Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $1,505,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Swiss National Bank increased its stake in shares of Pfizer by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 16,819,712 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $486,762,000 after purchasing an additional 100,900 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in Pfizer by 80.9% during the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 508,256 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $14,709,000 after buying an additional 227,349 shares in the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC increased its stake in Pfizer by 394.2% during the 3rd quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 52,238 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,512,000 after buying an additional 41,668 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its stake in Pfizer by 26.0% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,105,433 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $89,872,000 after buying an additional 639,985 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in Pfizer by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 13,118,764 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $379,657,000 after buying an additional 544,418 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Scott Gottlieb purchased 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $28.24 per share, for a total transaction of $28,240.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $282,400. This trade represents a 11.11 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Pfizer Stock Up 0.3 %

NYSE:PFE opened at $24.88 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $28.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $28.65. Pfizer Inc. has a 52 week low of $24.48 and a 52 week high of $31.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $140.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.67.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.06 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.42. Pfizer had a return on equity of 16.28% and a net margin of 7.07%. The company had revenue of $17.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.92 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.17) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 31.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.96 EPS for the current year.

Pfizer Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders 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 6.75%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 227.03%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on PFE. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Pfizer in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $32.00 price target for the company. Daiwa America upgraded Pfizer from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. UBS Group upped their price target on Pfizer from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Barclays upped their price target on Pfizer from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.92.

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.