Advance Capital Management Inc. Decreases Stake in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Advance Capital Management Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 7.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 9,208 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 744 shares during the period. Advance Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $244,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its stake in Pfizer by 12.8% in the 2nd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 735,962 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $20,592,000 after buying an additional 83,754 shares in the last quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC increased its stake in Pfizer by 29.3% in the 2nd quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 35,090 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $982,000 after purchasing an additional 7,955 shares during the period. Wakefield Asset Management LLLP bought a new stake in Pfizer in the 2nd quarter worth $454,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of Pfizer in the second quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 4.2% during the second quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 16,695 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $467,000 after purchasing an additional 669 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Pfizer

In related news, Director Scott Gottlieb acquired 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $28.24 per share, for a total transaction of $28,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $282,400. This trade represents a 11.11 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Pfizer in a report on Friday, October 25th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $30.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $29.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Pfizer in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $32.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com cut Pfizer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of Pfizer to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Pfizer presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.15.

Pfizer Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PFE traded up $0.29 during trading on Monday, hitting $26.88. The company had a trading volume of 43,801,648 shares, compared to its average volume of 32,645,211. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $26.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $152.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.65. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $24.48 and a 12 month 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 for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.42. Pfizer had a net margin of 7.07% and a return on equity of 16.28%. The company had revenue of $17.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.92 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.17) EPS. Pfizer’s quarterly revenue was up 31.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.40%. This is a boost from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 24th. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio is 232.43%.

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.