Bridgewater Advisors Inc. Has $1.74 Million Position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Bridgewater Advisors Inc. decreased its holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 4.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 65,899 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 2,777 shares during the quarter. Bridgewater Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $1,740,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in PFE. Swiss National Bank lifted its stake in Pfizer by 0.6% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 16,819,712 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $486,762,000 after purchasing an additional 100,900 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Pfizer by 11.0% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 130,143,942 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,766,366,000 after buying an additional 12,864,343 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in Pfizer by 80.9% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 508,256 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $14,709,000 after buying an additional 227,349 shares in the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC raised its stake in Pfizer by 394.2% during the third quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 52,238 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,512,000 after acquiring an additional 41,668 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 26.0% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,105,433 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $89,872,000 after acquiring an additional 639,985 shares during the period. 68.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on PFE. Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $29.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. StockNews.com downgraded Pfizer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $32.00 target price on the stock. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Pfizer in a report on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $25.00 price target for the company. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on Pfizer from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $32.00.

Pfizer Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PFE opened at $26.30 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The business has a 50-day moving average of $26.08 and a 200-day moving average of $27.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $149.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.55, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.64. Pfizer Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.48 and a fifty-two week high of $31.54.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.42. The firm had revenue of $17.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.92 billion. Pfizer had a return on equity of 16.28% and a net margin of 7.07%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 31.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.17) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 24th. This is a positive change from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.54%. Pfizer’s payout ratio is currently 227.03%.

Insider Activity at Pfizer

In related news, Director Scott Gottlieb acquired 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $28.24 per share, for a total transaction of $28,240.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $282,400. This trade represents a 11.11 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.