WASHINGTON TRUST Co Reduces Stock Position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

WASHINGTON TRUST Co decreased its position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 2.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 322,477 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 7,469 shares during the quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $8,555,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Pfizer during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Gladius Capital Management LP increased its stake in shares of Pfizer by 102.8% during the third quarter. Gladius Capital Management LP now owns 1,043 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 38,015 shares during the period. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new position in shares of Pfizer during the third quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Joseph Group Capital Management lifted its stake in Pfizer by 168.3% in the third quarter. Joseph Group Capital Management now owns 1,229 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 771 shares during the period. Finally, Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Pfizer in the fourth quarter valued at $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pfizer

In other Pfizer news, Director Ronald E. Blaylock purchased 19,457 shares of the firm’s 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 $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 can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on PFE shares. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Pfizer from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $29.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. StockNews.com lowered Pfizer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Pfizer from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded Pfizer to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.92.

Pfizer Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PFE opened at $25.50 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $26.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $27.62. 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 $144.48 billion, a PE ratio of 18.08, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.64. Pfizer Inc. has a 1-year low of $24.48 and a 1-year high of $31.54.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $17.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. Pfizer had a net margin of 12.62% and a return on equity of 19.47%. Pfizer’s revenue was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.10 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect 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. Investors of record on Friday, January 24th will be issued a $0.43 dividend. This is a positive change 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%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 24th. Pfizer’s payout ratio 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.