Sabal Trust CO Cuts Holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Sabal Trust CO cut its stake in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 7.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 782,165 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 59,705 shares during the quarter. Sabal Trust CO’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $20,751,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PFE. Swedbank AB raised its stake in shares of Pfizer by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 5,745,831 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $166,284,000 after purchasing an additional 37,636 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,742,343 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $50,423,000 after buying an additional 118,473 shares during the period. Autumn Glory Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Pfizer by 126.2% during the 3rd quarter. Autumn Glory Partners LLC now owns 30,250 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $875,000 after buying an additional 16,875 shares during the last quarter. Orrstown Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Pfizer during the third quarter worth about $427,000. Finally, Pallas Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Pfizer by 54.8% in the third quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 25,711 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $736,000 after acquiring an additional 9,102 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Pfizer Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of PFE stock opened at $26.76 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $26.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $27.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $151.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.98, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.64. Pfizer Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.48 and a fifty-two week high of $31.54. 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 (NYSE:PFE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.15. Pfizer had a net margin of 12.62% and a return on equity of 19.47%. The company had revenue of $17.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.10 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The business 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 dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 24th. This is a positive change from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.43%. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 121.99%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Ronald E. Blaylock purchased 19,457 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $25.65 per share, for a total transaction of $499,072.05. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $710,684.55. This trade represents a 235.84 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PFE has been the subject of several recent research reports. Truist Financial lowered 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. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Pfizer from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. UBS Group cut their target price on Pfizer from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Wolfe Research initiated 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, Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $29.00 target price on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.92.

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.