Perpetual Ltd Raises Stock Holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Perpetual Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 31.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 123,704 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 29,692 shares during the quarter. Perpetual Ltd’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $3,282,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Lmcg Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Pfizer by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. Lmcg Investments LLC now owns 55,974 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,485,000 after buying an additional 3,804 shares during the last quarter. Royal Fund Management LLC increased its position in shares of Pfizer by 192.0% in the 4th quarter. Royal Fund Management LLC now owns 24,713 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $656,000 after purchasing an additional 16,249 shares during the last quarter. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Pfizer in the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. Culbertson A N & Co. Inc. lifted its position in shares of Pfizer by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Culbertson A N & Co. Inc. now owns 22,485 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $597,000 after purchasing an additional 700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pure Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in Pfizer by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 24,966 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $662,000 after purchasing an additional 2,945 shares in the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on PFE. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Pfizer in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $25.00 price objective on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Pfizer from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Pfizer from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $32.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Pfizer has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $32.00.

Insider Activity

In other Pfizer news, Director Scott Gottlieb bought 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 acquisition, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $282,400. This trade represents a 11.11 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Pfizer Stock Performance

PFE stock opened at $26.63 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $26.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $27.98. The company has a market capitalization of $150.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.98, a PEG ratio of 0.63 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 Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.48 and a fifty-two week high of $31.54.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $14.92 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.17) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 paid a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 24th. This is an increase from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Pfizer’s payout ratio is currently 227.03%.

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.