Beacon Harbor Wealth Advisors Inc. Sells 141,745 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Beacon Harbor Wealth Advisors Inc. trimmed its stake in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 60.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 94,465 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 141,745 shares during the quarter. Beacon Harbor Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $2,506,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Pfizer by 1.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 290,460,600 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $8,405,930,000 after purchasing an additional 3,405,539 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Pfizer by 19.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 155,459,101 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $4,124,330,000 after acquiring an additional 25,315,159 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Pfizer by 1.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 117,666,245 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,392,342,000 after acquiring an additional 1,855,419 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in Pfizer by 22.4% during 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp grew 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 acquiring an additional 4,726,549 shares during the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Pfizer Stock Performance

Shares of PFE stock opened at $25.93 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $26.31 and a 200 day moving average of $27.27. Pfizer Inc. has a 52 week low of $24.48 and a 52 week high of $31.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $146.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.39, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.64. 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 (NYSE:PFE) last announced 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. Pfizer had a return on equity of 19.47% and a net margin of 12.62%. The company had revenue of $17.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.10 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, January 24th will be paid a $0.43 dividend. This is a positive change from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 24th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.63%. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 121.99%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $29.00 price target on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. StockNews.com cut shares of Pfizer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $25.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Pfizer from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Pfizer from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Pfizer has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.92.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Ronald E. Blaylock acquired 19,457 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $25.65 per share, with a total value of $499,072.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 27,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $710,684.55. This represents a 235.84 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.