Clarius Group LLC Trims Stock Position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Clarius Group LLC cut its stake in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 10.1% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 28,697 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 3,228 shares during the quarter. Clarius Group LLC’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $803,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Wesbanco Bank Inc. lifted its position in Pfizer by 0.9% in the second quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 251,945 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $7,049,000 after acquiring an additional 2,265 shares during the last quarter. Smith Anglin Financial LLC lifted its position in Pfizer by 7.2% in the second quarter. Smith Anglin Financial LLC now owns 22,026 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $616,000 after acquiring an additional 1,472 shares during the last quarter. Csenge Advisory Group lifted its position in Pfizer by 2.9% in the second quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 46,900 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,312,000 after acquiring an additional 1,305 shares during the last quarter. O Keefe Stevens Advisory Inc. lifted its position in Pfizer by 104.5% in the second quarter. O Keefe Stevens Advisory Inc. now owns 52,301 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,463,000 after acquiring an additional 26,724 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advocate Group LLC lifted its position in Pfizer by 7.4% in the second quarter. Advocate Group LLC now owns 316,841 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $8,865,000 after acquiring an additional 21,772 shares during the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on PFE. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Pfizer from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Pfizer from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Pfizer from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Daiwa America raised shares of Pfizer from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of Pfizer in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $34.54.

Pfizer Price Performance

PFE traded down $0.19 on Friday, hitting $28.57. 4,661,079 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 39,688,641. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 1.05. The business’s fifty day moving average is $28.80 and its 200 day moving average is $27.87. Pfizer Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $25.20 and a fifty-two week high of $37.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $161.89 billion, a P/E ratio of -476.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.69.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $13.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.96 billion. Pfizer had a negative net margin of 4.66% and a positive return on equity of 8.31%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.67 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.68 EPS for the current year.

Pfizer Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 26th will be given a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 26th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.88%. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio is presently -2,800.00%.

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.