World Equity Group Inc. Buys 23,729 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

World Equity Group Inc. boosted its stake in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 36.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 89,682 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 23,729 shares during the period. World Equity Group Inc.’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $2,372,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Swedbank AB raised its stake in shares of Pfizer by 0.7% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 5,745,831 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $166,284,000 after acquiring an additional 37,636 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Pfizer during the third quarter valued at $146,481,000. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated raised its stake in shares of Pfizer by 33.3% during the third quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 13,967 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $397,000 after acquiring an additional 3,486 shares during the last quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC grew its holdings in Pfizer by 5.5% in the third quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 37,021 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,071,000 after purchasing an additional 1,931 shares during the period. Finally, Mediolanum International Funds Ltd grew its holdings in Pfizer by 41.5% in the third quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd now owns 271,867 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $7,896,000 after purchasing an additional 79,671 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PFE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $29.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Pfizer in a report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $25.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI raised shares of Pfizer to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, UBS Group dropped 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Pfizer currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.92.

Insider Transactions at Pfizer

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

Pfizer Stock Performance

Shares of PFE stock opened at $26.32 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $149.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.66, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.64. 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 52 week low of $24.48 and a 52 week high of $31.54. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $26.30 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $27.41.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $17.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.26 billion. Pfizer had a net margin of 12.62% and a return on equity of 19.47%. The company’s revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.10 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 is an increase from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 24th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.54%. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 121.99%.

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.