Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC Reduces Stake in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 19.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 19,690 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 4,740 shares during the period. Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $522,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Pfizer by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 290,460,600 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $8,405,930,000 after purchasing an additional 3,405,539 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Pfizer by 11.0% in 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 acquiring an additional 12,864,343 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Pfizer by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 117,666,245 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,392,342,000 after acquiring an additional 1,855,419 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in Pfizer by 22.4% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 38,068,879 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,101,713,000 after acquiring an additional 6,977,587 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank increased its stake in Pfizer by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 16,819,712 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $486,762,000 after acquiring an additional 100,900 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on PFE shares. Truist Financial decreased their target price on Pfizer from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Evercore ISI upgraded Pfizer to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Guggenheim reduced their price objective on Pfizer from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $29.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Pfizer has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $31.92.

Pfizer Trading Down 2.3 %

NYSE PFE opened at $25.83 on Friday. Pfizer Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.48 and a fifty-two week 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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $26.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $27.78. The stock has a market cap of $146.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 0.64.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.15. Pfizer had a return on equity of 16.28% and a net margin of 7.07%. The business had revenue of $17.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.10 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 24th. This is a boost from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 232.44%.

Pfizer Company 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.