Abbot Financial Management Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Abbot Financial Management Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 29.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 25,812 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 10,936 shares during the quarter. Abbot Financial Management Inc.’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $685,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Pfizer by 19.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 155,459,101 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $4,124,330,000 after acquiring an additional 25,315,159 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position 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 valued at $1,101,713,000 after acquiring an additional 6,977,587 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Pfizer by 79.5% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 11,148,116 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $295,760,000 after purchasing an additional 4,938,209 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Pfizer by 28.5% in 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 buying an additional 4,726,549 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 164.2% during the 3rd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 7,316,405 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $211,737,000 after buying an additional 4,546,809 shares during the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $33.00 target price on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Pfizer from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. StockNews.com downgraded Pfizer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. 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 reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $29.00 price target on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.92.

Pfizer Price Performance

Shares of PFE opened at $25.72 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $145.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.64. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $26.32 and its 200-day moving average is $27.28. Pfizer Inc. has a one year low of $24.48 and a one 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.

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

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 24th. This is a boost from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.69%. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 121.99%.

Insider Transactions at Pfizer

In other news, Director Ronald E. Blaylock bought 19,457 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $25.65 per share, with a total value of $499,072.05. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 27,707 shares in the company, valued at approximately $710,684.55. The trade was 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 the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.