Paladin Advisory Group LLC Sells 449 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Paladin Advisory Group LLC cut its holdings in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 9.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,414 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 449 shares during the period. Paladin Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $117,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Swiss National Bank raised its stake in shares of Pfizer by 0.6% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 16,819,712 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $486,762,000 after purchasing an additional 100,900 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Pfizer by 11.0% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 130,143,942 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,766,366,000 after acquiring an additional 12,864,343 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in Pfizer by 80.9% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 508,256 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $14,709,000 after purchasing an additional 227,349 shares in the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC increased its stake in Pfizer by 394.2% in the 3rd quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 52,238 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,512,000 after buying an additional 41,668 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of Pfizer by 26.0% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,105,433 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $89,872,000 after buying an additional 639,985 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Truist Financial reduced their target price on Pfizer from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup lowered their target price on Pfizer from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. 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 for the company. Finally, 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.92.

Pfizer Stock Performance

Shares of PFE opened at $26.72 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $151.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.64. Pfizer Inc. has a 52-week low of $24.48 and a 52-week high of $31.54. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $26.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.91.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.06 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.42. The company had revenue of $17.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.92 billion. Pfizer had a net margin of 7.07% and a return on equity of 16.28%. Pfizer’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.17) earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, January 24th will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.44%. This is a boost from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 24th. Pfizer’s payout ratio is presently 227.03%.

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.