Aspen Investment Management Inc Has $334,000 Stake in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Aspen Investment Management Inc reduced its stake in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 27.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 12,572 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 4,729 shares during the quarter. Aspen Investment Management Inc’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $334,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp increased its stake 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 period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake 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 valued at $3,766,366,000 after purchasing an additional 12,864,343 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Pfizer by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 117,666,245 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,392,342,000 after buying an additional 1,855,419 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in Pfizer by 22.4% in the 3rd 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 worth $1,101,713,000 after buying an additional 6,977,587 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 28.5% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 21,286,805 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $564,739,000 after buying an additional 4,726,549 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PFE has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $29.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $33.00 price target on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com lowered 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 Pfizer in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $25.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded Pfizer to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.92.

Pfizer Price Performance

Pfizer stock opened at $25.86 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $26.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $27.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The company has a market capitalization of $146.52 billion, a PE ratio of 18.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.64. Pfizer Inc. has a one year low of $24.48 and a one year high of $31.54.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 analysts’ expectations of $17.26 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.10 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.65%. 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 currently 121.99%.

Insider Transactions at Pfizer

In other Pfizer news, Director Ronald E. Blaylock acquired 19,457 shares of Pfizer stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were bought at an average price of $25.65 per share, with a total value of $499,072.05. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 27,707 shares in the company, valued at $710,684.55. This trade represents a 235.84 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.