Fairscale Capital LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Fairscale Capital LLC lessened its position in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 39.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,710 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 2,369 shares during the quarter. Fairscale Capital LLC’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $98,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Pfizer by 19.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 155,459,101 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $4,124,330,000 after buying an additional 25,315,159 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Pfizer in the 4th quarter valued at $274,694,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in shares of Pfizer by 22.4% in the third 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 period. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 79.5% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 11,148,116 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $295,760,000 after purchasing an additional 4,938,209 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in Pfizer by 28.5% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 21,286,805 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $564,739,000 after purchasing an additional 4,726,549 shares during the period. 68.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on PFE. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Pfizer from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $33.00 price target on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com lowered Pfizer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $29.00 target price on shares of Pfizer in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Pfizer from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.92.

Pfizer Stock Up 1.8 %

PFE opened at $26.71 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. Pfizer Inc. has a twelve month low of $24.48 and a twelve month high of $31.54. The company has a market cap of $151.35 billion, a PE ratio of 18.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $26.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.23.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last announced 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. The business had revenue of $17.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.26 billion. Pfizer had a return on equity of 19.47% and a net margin of 12.62%. The business’s revenue was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.10 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Ronald E. Blaylock purchased 19,457 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $25.65 per share, for a total transaction of $499,072.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $710,684.55. This trade represents a 235.84 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through 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.