First City Capital Management Inc. Purchases 6,431 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

First City Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 14.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 52,014 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,431 shares during the quarter. Pfizer makes up about 0.8% of First City Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. First City Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $1,505,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Pfizer by 3.2% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 71,794,056 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,008,798,000 after purchasing an additional 2,241,609 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank boosted its position in 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 in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in Pfizer by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 16,560,256 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $477,929,000 after acquiring an additional 456,168 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Pfizer by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 16,553,997 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $479,073,000 after acquiring an additional 658,420 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in Pfizer by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 14,923,545 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $417,561,000 after acquiring an additional 470,003 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PFE has been the topic of several recent research reports. Daiwa America raised Pfizer from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Pfizer in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $32.00 target price on the stock. Daiwa Capital Markets raised Pfizer from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $28.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $45.00 target price on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Pfizer from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.92.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pfizer

In related news, Director Scott Gottlieb acquired 1,000 shares of Pfizer stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $28.24 per share, for a total transaction of $28,240.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $282,400. This represents a 11.11 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Pfizer Stock Performance

Shares of PFE stock opened at $24.88 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $140.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The business has a fifty day moving average of $28.55 and a 200 day moving average of $28.65. Pfizer Inc. has a 1 year low of $24.48 and a 1 year high of $31.54.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.42. The company had revenue of $17.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.92 billion. Pfizer had a return on equity of 16.28% and a net margin of 7.07%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 31.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.17) EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Pfizer Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.75%. Pfizer’s payout ratio is currently 227.03%.

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.