Empirical Asset Management LLC Decreases Stake in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Empirical Asset Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 12.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 10,266 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 1,421 shares during the period. Empirical Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $297,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PFE. Scarborough Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Pfizer during the 4th quarter worth about $124,000. Creekmur Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Pfizer in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. SageView Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in Pfizer by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 45,186 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,221,000 after purchasing an additional 973 shares in the last quarter. Stonehearth Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Pfizer by 16.8% during the 1st quarter. Stonehearth Capital Management LLC now owns 10,463 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $290,000 after buying an additional 1,506 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cravens & Co Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 9.6% in the 1st quarter. Cravens & Co Advisors LLC now owns 19,135 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $531,000 after buying an additional 1,681 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on PFE shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target 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. UBS Group upped their target price on Pfizer from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. StockNews.com raised Pfizer from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Daiwa Capital Markets raised Pfizer from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $28.00 to $34.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Pfizer from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $34.54.

Pfizer Price Performance

Shares of PFE opened at $29.08 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $29.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $28.40. Pfizer Inc. has a twelve month low of $25.20 and a twelve month high of $33.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $164.78 billion, a PE ratio of -484.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 0.67.

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

Pfizer Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be given a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.78%. Pfizer’s payout ratio is currently -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.