Blue Trust Inc. Acquires 7,958 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 14.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 61,517 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,958 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $1,780,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of PFE. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Pfizer by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 612,429 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $17,068,000 after buying an additional 9,435 shares in the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 23.2% during the second quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 50,845 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,423,000 after acquiring an additional 9,565 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 13.3% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 1,554,564 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $43,497,000 after purchasing an additional 182,950 shares in the last quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Pfizer in the 2nd quarter valued at $409,000. Finally, Silver Lake Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Pfizer during the 2nd quarter valued at $208,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Pfizer

In other news, Director Scott Gottlieb purchased 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $28.24 per share, with a total value of $28,240.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $282,400. This represents a 11.11 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Pfizer Trading Up 2.9 %

Shares of PFE opened at $26.86 on Tuesday. Pfizer Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.48 and a fifty-two week high of $31.54. The business has a 50-day moving average of $26.11 and a 200 day moving average of $27.94. The firm has a market cap of $152.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.00.

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

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 24th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.40%. This is an increase from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio is currently 232.43%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on PFE. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Pfizer from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Citigroup started coverage on Pfizer in a research report on Friday, October 25th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $30.00 price target for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Pfizer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $32.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $32.00.

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.