Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Sells 5,084 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. reduced its stake in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 6.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 69,861 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 5,084 shares during the quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $1,955,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Pfizer during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,129,927,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Pfizer by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 239,209,768 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $6,886,849,000 after purchasing an additional 11,099,024 shares during the period. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Pfizer in the 1st quarter worth $172,902,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Pfizer by 181.6% in the 1st quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 7,670,445 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $212,855,000 after buying an additional 4,947,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ruffer LLP raised its holdings in Pfizer by 248.7% during the fourth quarter. Ruffer LLP now owns 5,796,012 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $166,837,000 after acquiring an additional 4,133,786 shares during the period. 68.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Pfizer Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of PFE opened at $29.64 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $29.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.09. The company has a market cap of $167.96 billion, a P/E ratio of -494.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. Pfizer Inc. has a twelve month low of $25.20 and a twelve month high of $34.62.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.14. Pfizer had a negative net margin of 4.66% and a positive return on equity of 8.42%. The company had revenue of $13.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.96 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.67 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.66 EPS for the current year.

Pfizer Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, July 26th were issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.67%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 26th. Pfizer’s payout ratio is currently -2,800.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on PFE shares. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded Pfizer from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $28.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Pfizer from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Pfizer from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Pfizer in a report on Monday. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Pfizer from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $34.54.

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.