PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Sells 571,105 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. cut its stake in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 6.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 8,469,088 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 571,105 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $224,685,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Swedbank AB increased its stake in shares of Pfizer by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 5,745,831 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $166,284,000 after acquiring an additional 37,636 shares in the last quarter. Graypoint LLC increased its stake in shares of Pfizer by 11.8% during the third quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 36,617 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,060,000 after purchasing an additional 3,852 shares in the last quarter. Advisor Resource Council bought a new position in shares of Pfizer during the third quarter valued at approximately $229,000. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Pfizer during the third quarter valued at approximately $257,000. Finally, Hara Capital LLC bought a new position in Pfizer during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $85,000. 68.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PFE has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citigroup reduced their price target on Pfizer from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $25.00 price objective for the company. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $29.00 target price on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.92.

Pfizer Price Performance

Shares of Pfizer stock opened at $26.71 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $26.30 and a 200 day moving average of $27.25. Pfizer Inc. has a 12 month low of $24.48 and a 12 month high of $31.54. The firm has a market cap of $151.35 billion, a PE ratio of 18.94, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.15. Pfizer had a return on equity of 19.47% and a net margin of 12.62%. The firm had revenue of $17.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.10 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 24th were issued a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 24th. This is a positive change from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 121.99%.

Insider Transactions at Pfizer

In other Pfizer news, Director Ronald E. Blaylock acquired 19,457 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were bought at an average price of $25.65 per share, with a total value of $499,072.05. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $710,684.55. The trade was a 235.84 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.