Encompass Wealth Advisors LLC Grows Position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Encompass Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 12.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,686 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,560 shares during the period. Encompass Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $363,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on PFE. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Pfizer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $29.00 target price on shares of Pfizer in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Guggenheim cut their price target on Pfizer from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Pfizer in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $32.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.92.

Pfizer Price Performance

Pfizer stock opened at $25.83 on Friday. Pfizer Inc. has a 1 year low of $24.48 and a 1 year high of $31.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.00. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $26.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.78. The company has a market cap of $146.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.90, a PEG ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 0.64.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $17.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.26 billion. Pfizer had a net margin of 7.07% and a return on equity of 16.28%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.10 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current 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 $0.43 dividend. 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 6.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 24th. Pfizer’s payout ratio is currently 232.44%.

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.