Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. Grows Position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 15.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 39,811 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,348 shares during the quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co.’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $1,069,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Pfizer in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $25.00 target price on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com cut Pfizer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $29.00 target price on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised Pfizer to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.92.

Insider Transactions at Pfizer

In other news, Director Ronald E. Blaylock acquired 19,457 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $25.65 per share, with a total value of $499,072.05. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 27,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $710,684.55. The trade was a 235.84 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Pfizer Stock Down 0.6 %

NYSE PFE opened at $25.50 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $26.28 and its 200 day moving average is $27.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. Pfizer Inc. has a 12 month low of $24.48 and a 12 month high of $31.54. The stock has a market cap of $144.48 billion, a PE ratio of 18.08, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.64.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.10 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, January 24th will be issued a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 24th. This is a boost from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.75%. Pfizer’s payout ratio is currently 121.99%.

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.